Observed Coronavirus pandemic shortcomings by our hospital system in the United States.

Suggestions to fix some of the problems.

Supplies:
Hospitals in the past maintained warehouses of supplies. Due to perceived lack of funds hospitals got
rid of their warehouses. Hospitals contracted out all of their supply chain needs. Hospitals use what is
called JIT, just in time inventory. This means that as supplies are running out new inventory is being
placed on the shelves. I have observed that there is always shortages on any given day using this
method.
It is my opinion for national security reasons and to promote the general welfare of our country the
federal government should require all hospitals to have a warehouse that contains a 7 day supply of all
supplies. This would ensure there would be a buffer in normal working conditions and would build a
national stockpile that is distributed and ready for use that would last 7 days. These hospital
warehouses should be located within 1 mile of the hospital. The supplies are rotated out as needed and
resupplied with the 7 day supply continuously being replaced.
The national stockpile of supplies will be stored in vacuum sealed packaging. The cases for these
supplies will designed for easy storage in containers not to exceed 25 lbs per container. The medical
supply for the national stockpile will be stored at National Guard facilities for quick deployment in
every state. The National Guard will distribute these supplies. The National Guard will maintain
equipment to transport these supplies in a rapid manner. The National Guard will maintain a list of
hospitals and clinics for their designated area of responsibility to include names and phone numbers of
the logistical support staff at hospitals from the CEO of the hospital down to the dock workers.
Hospitals will maintain emergency storage facilities for supplies if the national stockpile is tapped.

Medical equipment electronic charting:

All of the national stockpile medical equipment must have electronic medical record keeping
capabilities. The export of the HL7 data will be exported in the version of the current latest version of
HL7. This current version of HL7 will be renamed the National Emergency HL7 Format. In the future
all medical manufacturers will be required by law to include as a module the National Emergency HL7
Format for data export. All of the stockpiled medical equipment should be required to have network
capabilities built in. By default the equipment will be networked using secure wireless networks. This
equipment will have wired network abilities also. Each piece of equipment can act as a server to export
data to another server for data storage. This emergency medical equipment will be designed with
software that allows anyone to configure the network for electronic medical records. The network setup
and capabilities will be designed for use with between 5 and 5 thousand patients.

Medical Equipment:
The federal government will determine what equipment will be stockpiled by the national stockpile. All
equipment will be constructed with metal enclosures. All of these enclosures will be water resistant.
The shape of this equipment will be designed for easy compact storage. Each piece of equipment will
be stored in vacuum sealed water proof bags. The storage boxes will be designed for reuse and can
withstand extreme abuse. All medical equipment must pass a 3 foot drop without breaking. All of the
national stockpiled equipment will be stored in National Guard facilities. The National guard will be
tasked with maintaining this equipment. The National guard will provide all logistics in the distribution
of this equipment. The national Guard will have trained staff that can setup and deploy this equipment.
The National Guard will maintain electric generators to power this equipment.
Emergency hospitals:
Each state will determine locations of emergency hospitals. Each state will determine the size needed
for an emergency hospital. The federal government will advise each state if their emergency hospital
plan is adequate. The National Guard will communicate with state and federal governments and have a
plan for deploying emergency hospitals. The national guard will maintain structures for emergency
hospitals (tents). The National Guard will be responsible for erecting emergency hospitals. The
National Guard will be responsible for electric generators for these emergency hospitals. The National
guard will secure these emergency hospitals with physical barriers. The National Guard will be
responsible for the security of these emergency hospitals. The locations of the designated emergency
hospitals will have access to water electricity and sewage.

Emergency Staff:
All hospitals will work with cities counties states federal government with a plan for emergency staff to
include using existing staff with overtime reserve staff, state and federal staff. There will be a plan to
call this staff to include names numbers addresses. This list will be updated by each hospital once a
year. If there is a shortage of staff it will be the responsibility of the states and federal government to
recruit and train staff to include sending students to nursing schools and med schools. All new
participants that are recruited and schooled must be American citizens. All staff in the emergency plan
must be American citizens. Why should all of the staff be American citizens? State and Federal
governments have been shirking their duties to build new colleges to train medical staff. Our country is
addicted to taking the easy way out by snagging trained people from around the world.