A new toolkit is offering ways for healthcare facilities to purchase locally and help their communities, according to an article on the Fierce Healthcare website.
The toolkit was created by the Democracy Collaborative and offers strategies for local purchasing and case studies highlighting success stories.
Nationally, health systems spend more than $340 billion every year on goods and services but many of those dollars do not reach populations facing the greatest health disparities. Less than 2 percent of health system purchasing flows to businesses owned by minorities or women, according to the Democracy Collaborative.
Buying local will also require hospitals to invest in and evaluate their supply chain, according to the toolkit.