The Impact of Current Tariffs on Surgical Supply Costs

Overview

As global trade policies shift, hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are starting to feel the impact of newly imposed tariffs on imported medical goods. With 70% of medical devices marketed in the US produced overseas and the US importing over $75 billion in medical devices and supplies in 2024, even modest tariffs translate into meaningful budget pressure across surgical programs. This piece walks through how tariffs are reaching the OR, the secondary effects on supply chains and IT infrastructure, and what facilities can do today to absorb the impact.

How tariffs are driving up surgical supply costs

A tariff is a government-imposed tax on imported goods, designed to protect domestic industries or generate revenue. Today, 70% of all medical devices marketed in the US are produced overseas [1]. For hospitals, surgical centers, and supply chains that rely heavily on international manufacturers, even a modest tariff can create noticeable increases in supply expenses.

The downstream effects are practical and immediate:

• Higher operational expenses on every imported supply
• Delayed purchasing decisions as procurement teams reassess
• Reduced availability of certain products as supply chains adjust
• Pressure to switch suppliers, which can affect consistency and surgical quality

A large portion of surgical supplies and medical instruments used in the United States is sourced internationally. According to Tina Freese Decker, Chair of the American Hospital Association, the categories most exposed include “pharmaceuticals, medical devices and personal protective equipment, [as well as] low-margin, high-use essentials like syringes, needles and blood pressure cuffs.” When tariffs hit these goods, the direct import cost rises, raising overall expenses for healthcare providers — and ultimately patients.

The AHA also reported that the US imported over $75 billion in medical devices and supplies in 2024 [2]. With import reliance at that scale, increasing tariffs make every step of healthcare delivery more expensive.

How will this impact the operating room?

For many hospitals, the added costs arrive at a time when operating margins are already narrow. ASCs — which often operate under even tighter cost controls — may feel the effects more acutely.

Tariffs don’t discriminate by product category. Whether a supply is critical or elective, price adjustments may apply across the board. Even small increases in unit cost add up fast when multiplied across the hundreds or thousands of procedures performed annually.

Beyond direct pricing, there are secondary effects worth planning for:

• Longer lead times — suppliers responding to tariffs may shift sourcing or manufacturing, extending delivery windows
• Inconsistent inventory levels — reactive supply chain changes can disrupt the predictable stock surgical teams depend on
• Changes in product availability — some items may temporarily disappear from catalogs or be replaced by substitutes
• More work for procurement teams — every supplier change requires evaluation, requalification, and documentation
• Workarounds and substitutions in the OR — surgical staff may need to adapt to alternate supplies mid-case or pre-case

The hidden second front: IT infrastructure

Tariffs don’t just affect surgical supplies — they also affect the computer infrastructure underlying every modern OR. Servers, networking equipment, and clinical computing devices are frequently imported [3], creating risk for facilities that rely on imported hardware or aging legacy systems.

Facilities preparing for this should consider:

• Migrating to cloud-based EHR and clinical systems (reducing dependence on imported physical hardware)
• Auditing where existing hardware is sourced
• Upgrading legacy systems proactively, before tariff-driven costs make replacement more expensive

What hospitals and ASCs can do

The financial impact of tariffs on surgical supplies isn’t speculative — it’s already arriving. Hospitals and ASCs that prepare proactively will be better positioned to maintain clinical quality while controlling costs in an increasingly complex supply environment.

Practical steps include:

• Audit current supply spending. Know where every dollar goes and which line items are most exposed to imported sourcing.
• Identify substitution candidates. Where clinically appropriate, find domestic alternatives or interchangeable products from less-tariff-exposed regions.
• Tighten preference card hygiene. Every unnecessary item on a preference card becomes a tariff cost multiplier. Eliminating waste delivers savings that compound against the tariff drag.
• Plan for longer lead times. Adjust reorder thresholds and safety stock for high-volume imported supplies.
• Invest in supply data infrastructure. You can’t optimize what you can’t measure.

How PREFcards helps facilities respond

Systems like PREFcards enable facilities to make informed decisions about what to order and where costs are accumulating:

• Bulk card editing lets staff update hundreds of cards at once when a product becomes unavailable, gets substituted, or shifts in price — without spending days in spreadsheets.
• Notes and preference fields let teams document temporary substitutions or supplier changes directly on the affected cards, so OR staff aren’t surprised mid-case.
• Data reports including case cost comparisons and surgeon contribution margins surface inefficiencies and waste so facilities can cut costs where it’s possible — offsetting tariff pressure with operational savings.

With so much uncertainty in the supply chain, the ability to reduce unnecessary costs is what enables surgical programs to stay ahead.

Book a demo to see how PREFcards can help your facility absorb tariff pressure while improving OR efficiency.

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Sources

1. American Hospital Association. (2025, February 4). AHA urges administration to grant exceptions for tariffs for medications and medical supplies.
2. Decker, T. F. (2025, May 19). Tariff implications for American health care. American Hospital Association.
3. EHRinPractice. (2025, May 20). How the U.S. tariffs are reshaping healthcare software buying decisions in 2025.