A surgical gown that used to cost Johns Hopkins Health System 40 cents now costs $9 during the pandemic, according to an article on the Becker’s Hospital Review website.

Lisa Ishii, MD, senior vice president of operations at the Baltimore-based health system said that in the last two decades, the U.S. healthcare system has come to rely heavily on international suppliers  for thousands of essential supplies. 

But since the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have shifted to using domestic suppliers because of transportation and trade issues. These suppliers can be much more expensive.

High domestic prices are likely caused by a combination of increased costs of manufacturing in the U.S. and increased demand.

A Congressional Research Service earlier this year published a report on US imports of medical supplies that reported China exported in 2019 nearly $21 billion in pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and healthcare products to the US, according to an article on the Vox website.

Read the full Becker’s article.