HCA Healthcare, A Plus enter JV to manufacture personal protective equipment

HCA Healthcare Inc. entered into a joint venture business with Chino, Calif.-based healthcare supplies company A Plus International Inc. to manufacture personal protective equipment such as surgical and procedure masks in the U.S.

Under the collaboration, an Asheville, N.C.-based manufacturing facility is expected to soon begin producing masks according to safety and quality standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

The increased demand for personal protective equipment, or PPE, due to the pandemic has "underscored our how dependent we have been on supplies from overseas," said Jonathan Perlin, president, clinical operations group and chief medical officer of HCA Healthcare. The collaboration focuses on the domestic production of PPE to support medical staff on the frontline, he added.

Initially, both the companies will equally invest in the new business, which aims to cater to the increasing global demand of PPE courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic. HCA noted that in 2020 it spent more than $196 million on PPE compared to 2019.

The joint venture will be co-managed by A Plus and HealthTrust — a global leader in purchasing aggregation and performance improvement for healthcare. HealthTrust's unit Resource Optimization & Innovation is the distribution partner and will provide PPE to HealthTrust member organizations throughout the U.S.