The ADA and other healthcare organizations signed a public statement March 27 strongly supporting emergency efforts at the federal level to increase the production and distribution of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are vitally concerned with the shortages of masks, face shields and other personal protective equipment, ventilators, swab kits and testing capacity that are critically needed by frontline caregivers and patients," reads the statement, which was drafted by the Joint Commission and signed by the ADA, American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons and American Hospital Association. "In the most affected areas, hospitals, other healthcare delivery organizations, physicians, dentists and other caregivers need help now."
The organizations also support the use of telehealth services to conserve PPE while preventing the spread of infection, according to the statement.
The statement also called for the immediate removal of any impediments in the supply chain.