To: Board of Supervisors
From: Anna Roth, Health Services Director
Report Title: Amendment to Purchase Order with Reliance Wholesale, Inc.
?Recommendation of the County Administrator ? Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Purchasing Agent, or designee, to execute on behalf of the Health Services Department, an amendment to purchase order #28188 with Reliance Wholesale, Inc. to extend the term through June 30, 2025 with no change to the original payment limit of $325,000 for Intravenous (IV) and Pharmaceutical drugs and supplies to be used at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) and Health Centers.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this action will result in expenditures of up to $325,000 for IV and Pharmaceutical drugs and supplies through June 30, 2025 and is funded by Hospital Enterprise Fund I revenues.
BACKGROUND:
Reliance Wholesale, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company that provides CCRMC and Health Centers with medications and pharmaceutical products unavailable through the contracted wholesaler Cardinal or the direct manufacturer of these products. The U.S. has been experiencing a rapidly increasing frequency of drug shortages in the past two decades, which have caused numerous difficulties for clinicians, health care facilities, patients, and federal regulators. Drug shortages remain the most burdensome obstacle in providing optimal level of care in the healthcare industry from the medication management perspective. This problem has been intensified in the past two years in the face of a worldwide pandemic, creating yet a new level of challenge in healthcare.
Drug shortages are caused by many factors, including difficulties in acquiring raw materials, manufacturing problems, regulatory issues, business decisions, as well as many other disturbances within the supply chain. They adversely affect patient care by causing substitution of safe and effective therapies with alternative treatments, compromising or delay...
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