Nursing homes and other smaller healthcare facilities may be hurt by the rush for N95 masks and other protective gear and stockpiling by larger facilities, according to an article on the Modern Healthcare website.

Healthcare leaders are again calling for a coordinated national strategy to distribute personal protective equipment. 

While supply chains and the availability of PPE has improved since the spring, limited factories and quantities of raw materials still exist.

Larger healthcare facilities are stockpiling what they can to prepare for a feared wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations For an average hospital, a 90-day supply is $2 million worth of equipment.

U.S. nursing homes got 7 million N95 respirators from the federal stockpile in August, according to a Bloomberg article. 

A July 14 letter from the American Health Care Association stated that almost  20 percent of nursing homes told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention they either have no PPE or less than a week’s supply, 

Read the full Modern Healthcare article.