HCI - the Healthcare Chain Institute

About HCI - the Healthcare Chain Institute

The Healthcare Chain Institute (HCI) is a member-led platform uniting all stakeholders in the healthcare value chain to address medicine shortages, digitalisation and sustainability as one connected system. Relevant stakeholders include pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, hospital and community pharmacies, payers, regulators and patient organisations Headquartered in Brussels, HCI began with a European focus and is now expanding its reach globally, as supply, digital and sustainability challenges increasingly cross borders. HCI is a neutral environment where actors who rarely sit at the same table work together on problems no single organisation can resolve alone. Our membership includes EFPIA, Medicines for Europe (MFE), EUCOPE, Pharma Logistics Austria (PLA) and Glenmark, alongside procurement alliances, hospital pharmacist networks, digital-solution providers and policymakers. We work through three interconnected Working Groups: ▸ Patient Access & Continuity of Supply (PACS) — medicine shortages, strategic reserves and supply-chain resilience. Our draft guidance Towards Smarter Stockpiling and the 5 Es framework (Evidence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Equity, Equilibrium) inform regulatory debates including the Critical Medicines Act and parallel discussions in other regions. ▸ ESG & Sustainability — Scope 3, sustainable procurement, MEAT-scoring and life-cycle assessment across manufacturing, logistics and dispensing, with partners including the Pharma LCA Consortium and PEG/PEGHUB. ▸ Digitalisation (DIGI) — interoperability, ePIL, AI-enabled supply visibility and early-warning capabilities. DIGI is developing a Minimum Viable Product for digital support to strategic reserves. HCI offers a trusted venue to shape the future of medicine availability, digital health and sustainable healthcare, for pharmaceutical manufacturers, healthcare distributors and healthcare professionals, wherever they operate for the ultimate patient benefit.