Distributors Are the Vital Link Between Healthcare Manufacturers and Providers

Healthcare distributors deliver 11 million medicines, vaccines and healthcare products safely, efficiently and reliably every day.

  • $63 Billion in Savings

    By streamlining the supply chain, distributors save the healthcare system up to $63 billion each year.
  • 1,400 Manufacturers

    Nearly 1,400 pharmaceutical manufacturers use distributor services to connect them with sites of care that depend on their lifesaving therapies.
  • 330,000 Sites of Care

    330,000 healthcare providers, pharmacies and other sites of care use distributor services to streamline the supply chain and ensure millions receive critical treatments.

Delivering Lifesaving Treatments and Cures in Hours

Distributors work behind the scenes to ensure the constant, reliable flow of lifesaving therapies treatments and cures to patients in the U.S. 

In many cases, healthcare product distribution happens within hours, not days. Leveraging constantly running operations, primary distributors can take orders made by 8:00 p.m. and deliver them to their end destination as soon as the next morning. 

On a typical business day, each traditional distribution center picks about 108,000 SKUs and processes over 4,000 customer orders.

Stocking shelves

Medicines

Providers — and ultimately patients — depend on healthcare distributors for on-time access to safe and secure medicines. These prescription medicines and healthcare products range from common over-the-counter medications to complex cold chain products that require constant temperature monitoring.

Learn more

Administering vaccines

Vaccines

HDA members play a central role in handling and distributing COVID-19 vaccines as well as common vaccines, such as immunizations for the flu, Hepatitis B, HPV, pneumococcal and shingles to doctor’s offices, health centers, pharmacies and other dispensing sites.

Learn more

Provider support

Pharmacies and Providers

Distributors support approximately 20,000 independent pharmacies across the country, providing the logistics expertise, administrative services, and support that allows pharmacists and providers to focus on their patients.

Learn more

Stocking shelves

Medical and Surgical Supplies

Healthcare distributors manage extensive relationships with global and domestic manufacturers to provide medical and surgical supplies as well as healthcare products to hospitals, doctor’s offices and other healthcare facilities.

Learn more

Faces of the Supply Chain

Faces of the Supply Chain connects you to the passionate, committed, innovative and hard-working individuals that make up the industry and ensure that medicines, vaccines, healthcare products and other medical supplies are available when providers and their patients need them.

A component of the Health Delivered campaign, the series features HDA member company employees speaking about the work they do every day to deliver more than 11 million lifesaving treatments and cures to support healthcare providers and their patients across the country. By amplifying our member voices, HDA is bringing to life the people behind the scenes who make the healthcare supply chain work.

Leaning In To Help Across the Whole Supply Chain

  • Constant Innovators

    Advances in medicine lead to increasingly compex data management, safety and transportation requirements — distributors are continuously innovating to help upstream and downstream partners navigate these trends.
  • Information Management Specialists

    As efficiency experts, distributors use advanced tools and technologies to manage their networks to ensure a safe, functioning and reliable supply chain.
  • Logistics Experts

    Millions of phamaceutical, medical and surgical supplies are delivered to sites of care daily — all managed through extensive relationships with global and domestic manufacturers.

Join A Network To Leverage the Strengths of an Industry

Together, we are creating a safe, efficient and secure supply chain for all Americans — become a part of it.

For more information, contact Lisa Kanfer, Vice President, Membership and Development.