Stocking Ahead: Winter Supply Chain Challenges and Leveraging OMFreight+™

1. Seasonal illness and respiratory infections

Winter is the traditional time for higher rates of influenza-like illnesses, RSV, and other respiratory infections.1 These directly increase hospital admissions and emergency room (ER) visits. For example, one study documented particularly high ER volumes during the Christmas–New Year period.²

2. Environmental or weather-related factors

It’s no surprise colder weather tends to keep people indoors more so than in the warmer months, leading to closer quarters and more opportunities for germs to spread. Snow and ice also mean a greater probability of falls and vehicle crashes. On top of these factors, flu season overlaps with holiday travel. All these can feed into greater volume for hospitals to prepare for, often unpredictable from month to month.³

3. Holiday gatherings, injury & time spent indoors

More time spent indoors, especially with extended family or friends (holiday dinners, travel, large gatherings) increases the risk of viral spread. The combination of weakened immunity (from winter weather), close quarters, and high social interaction is a perfect storm for increased illness risk.

The holidays also bring extra injury risk in the form of decorating mishaps. Each year, it is estimated that around 16,000 individuals seek medical attention for injuries related to holiday decorations in the United States.⁴

Other injuries that may lead to ER visit during the holiday and winter months include falls from ladders, social events, fires from candles, increased vehicle accidents, and dangerous activities like hunting or snow sports

4. Behavioral and stress-induced illnesses

Holidays can be emotionally charged with additional stress, travel fatigue, and disruption of familiar routines. There’s documented upticks in ER visits on holidays and weekends. For example, a German study found visits were highest on New Year’s Day (+68 % above average).⁵

On the supply chain side, winter brings more than just increased patient loads.

Overlay of disaster risks:

• The U.S. hurricane season runs through November, and when storms strike places like Florida (a major medical-manufacturing hub and import region)6, supply chain disruptions ripple outward.
• Increased risk of flooding, wildfires, or extreme weather events exacerbate logistics disruptions and impact ports, trucking, and warehousing operations.
• These external pressures mean that during the same months that hospitals are seeing more demand, their supply risks are also elevated.

Manufacturing/export vulnerabilities

When major manufacturing zones like Florida or other coastal states are also hit by unpredictable winter weather patterns or experience import delays, medical device supply chains tighten. That means even before the “surge” hits your facility, your upstream inventory risk may already experience a level of fragility.

Given these realities, hospitals and acute-care facilities must revisit inventory strategies for winter months through March. Here are some critical areas:

Masks, gloves and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Although pandemic urgency has receded somewhat, personal protective equipment (PPE) remains a foundational supply item. Shortages persist with over 20% of critical items having scarcity rates over 5%.⁷ Facilities should ensure sufficient buffer stocks for high-demand scenarios and strategically source with suppliers who prioritize vertical integration in their supply chain.

Surgical and procedural supplies

Increased admissions and emergency cases likely mean higher utilization of surgical kits, consumables, and trauma supplies. Stock-outs or delays can lead to cancellations or deferred care.

Looking ahead, supply chain leaders in healthcare are leveraging several advanced approaches to boost resilience and readiness for this seasonal surge:

1. Holistic 3PL / logistics partnerships

Rather than treating logistics as a reactive cost center, some hospitals are evolving toward end-to-end visibility with third-party logistics (3PL) partners. By integrating transport tracking, warehouse analytics, and supplier performance into one system, supply disruptions may be detected earlier.

2. Data-driven inventory optimization

Using historical volume data, seasonal trends, supplier lead-times, and shipping risk factors, inventory teams can simulate scenarios (for example, “What if we have 20% more trauma-volume this December?”) and adjust safety stock levels accordingly. This is especially crucial during holiday/winter periods when service demands shift.

3. Alternative sourcing and supplier diversification

Post-pandemic reviews emphasized over-reliance on single source PPE and key items, noting that vertically integrated supply chain partners offer greater opportunity for risk management. Diversifying sources and engaging secondary suppliers can help reduce risk when a major vendor is disrupted.⁷

4. Strategic stock zones and surge capacity plans

Some facilities designate “surge zones” in their warehousing footprint that are dedicated to shelving or reserve inventory that’s only tapped during the winter surge or holiday spike. This avoids over-capitalizing inventory for the rest of the year while still having the capacity when it matters.⁷

5. Enhanced collaboration with clinical & operational stakeholders

Supply chain teams that partner with their Emergency Department (ED) and Operating Room (OR) leadership can work to anticipate changes ahead of time by listening to the front-line workers who see the patient volume and case-kind firsthand. This alignment helps ensure ordering criteria reflects the reality of their own facility.

According to an industry analysis, “Stockpiling medical supplies comes with a variety of challenges … but there are a few instances when it makes sense for hospitals to have excess inventory on hand.”⁸

Key take-aways for your facility:

• Stockpiling makes sense for items with long shelf life, predictable high usage, and low storage complexity (e.g., masks, gloves, gowns).
• It is not practical to stockpile every item due to unpredictable demand and cost/space constraints.
• Instead, build relationships with suppliers that have greater supply chain control through vertical integration and use data-driven forecasting to identify the few items worth buffering stock.

Demand forecasting and buffer planning

Because winter surges and holiday spikes are reasonably predictable, inventory teams should layer seasonal demand into forecasting models. An increase in orders for certain supplies starting in November based on trends tracked from past years’ volumes could be a safe place to start. This planning helps mitigate risk before shipping delays/factory downtime impact delivery.

Logistics and shipping timing

Winter weather, holiday-season shipping peaks, port delays, and manufacturing slowdowns all suggest that lead-times may lengthen during the winter months. Facilities should consider adjusting reorder points, consider ordering earlier for critical supplies, and plan for potentially longer replenishment delays.

Coordination with clinical operations

Inventory planners must align with clinical/ED leadership to understand anticipated volumes (e.g., extra trauma cases, holiday-day staffing, extended hours). This coordination ensures that supply planning reflects actual patient care needs rather than just what is anticipated during “ordinary” months.

As hospitals navigate the colder winter months, the intersection of increased patient volume and supply chain stress demands proactive planning. Here’s a quick checklist summary:

• Forecast demand for winter and holiday months using historical volume, injury/illness trends, and special event schedules.
• Identify critical supplies that deserve buffer stock (long shelf life, high usage during surge, difficult to replace).
• Adjust ordering patterns for earlier shipments by reviewing lead-times and reorder points during winter months and anticipate shipping/transport risk windows.
• Build relationships with suppliers that have greater supply chain control through vertical integration and reduce dependency on single vendors.
• Align inventory planning with clinical operations, especially ED, OR, trauma, and winter-illness units.
• Monitor external risks such as weather, disasters, manufacturing disruptions, and logistics bottlenecks.
• Leverage technology and logistics partners to increase visibility, simulate scenarios, and optimize inventory positions.

By taking these steps, hospitals and acute-care facilities can be better positioned to handle the seasonal surge, both in terms of patient care and supply chain resilience.

The Owens & Minor Advantage – OMFreight+™

OMFreight+™ is a comprehensive freight-management solution that includes parcel, less-than-truckload (LTL) and ocean-freight shipping. For parcel freight, it offers real-time tracking and a cloud-based portal, advanced reporting of spend across facilities, invoice reconciliation, and seamless integration into existing workflows.⁹

For LTL shipments, it leverages national shipping partnerships to deliver discounted rates, ease of booking, and reliable, on-time transport from booking to delivery.9 Global ocean freight options offer end-to-end management – from vessel booking and paperwork to port-to-door delivery – along with visibility and flexible inland transport options.⁹

In the midst of winter-weather disruptions, these capabilities become especially valuable. When snowstorms, icy roads or freezing temps around major hubs threaten shipment delays, the portal’s full visibility gives supply-chain executives early warning of transport disruptions and the ability to reroute or shift modes⁹ (for example from ocean to air/road, or from LTL to expedited parcel).

The cost-control and audit features help manage the increased cost pressure that often comes with rushed winter deliveries and higher patient-care demands. Moreover, when patient volume spikes unexpectedly (i.e., flu season coinciding with winter storms) or stock-outs loom because a key supply chain leg is frozen, the scalable freight model which spans across parcel, LTL, and ocean, allows healthcare providers or manufacturers to shift from standard shipping to a mode or partner that can maintain throughput, keeping inventory flowing when seasonal risks would otherwise create service gaps.

1. Martin, L. J., Dong, H., Liu, Q., Talbot, J., Qiu, W., & Yasui, Y. (2016). Influenza-like illness-related emergency department visits: Christmas and New Year holiday peaks and relationships with laboratory-confirmed respiratory virus detections, Edmonton, Alberta, 2004-2014. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 10(6), 555-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12416
2. BHM Healthcare Solutions. (2024, November). Seasonal surge: Understanding holiday hospital admission trends. Retrieved from https://bhmpc.com/2024/11/seasonal-surge/
3. Bowman, N. (2025, September 11). Climate change exposes weak links in U.S. medical supply chains. SupplyChainBrain. https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/42470-climate-change-exposes-weak-links-in-us-medical-supply-chains
4. O’Kruk, A. (2024) Deck the halls (extra carefully): Common Christmas injuries, illustrated. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/21/health/common-christmas-decoration-injuries-illustrated-dg
5. Hitzek, J., Fischer-Rosinský, A., Möckel, M., Kuhlmann, S. L., & Slagman, A. (2022). Influence of weekday and seasonal trends on urgency and in-hospital mortality of emergency department patients. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 711235. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.711235
6. Callander, L. (2025, September 8). Why Florida is the MedTech Manufacturing Hub You Haven’t Considered (But Should). Concise Engineering. https://www.concise-engineering.com/medtechman/blog/why-florida-is-the-medtech-manufacturing-hub-you-havent-considered
7. Yancopoulous, L. (2023, November 27). Hospitals face mounting shortages of essential medical supplies. SupplyChainBrain. https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/38552-hospitals-face-mounting-shortages-of-essential-medical-supplies
8. Palazzini, M. (2022, July 27). When is stockpiling medical supplies worth it? SupplyChainBrain. https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/35273-when-is-stockpiling-medical-supplies-worth-it?utm_source=chatgpt.com
9. Owens & Minor. (2025). OMFreight+™: Empowering manufacturers and healthcare providers with reliable shipping solutions. https://www.owens-minor.com/distribution/omfreightplus/