AMMA Welcomes HHS Department-Wide PPE Demand Forecast as a Breakthrough for American Manufacturers

HHS now requires its divisions to publish a quarterly forecast of personal protective equipment needs. Reflects AMMA advocacy with Congress and Administration

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, September 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The American Medical Manufacturers Association (AMMA) today welcomed the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) new department-wide forecast of its personal protective equipment demand, calling it the clearest demand signal domestic PPE makers have received from a federal buyer.

AMMA credited HHS leadership and the Trump Administration for taking a step that manufacturers have sought for years.

"Leadership focusing attention on something as essential as a purchasing forecast is exactly the kind of governing that helps American factories," Axel said. "The President, HHS Secretary Kennedy and the President’s Made in America Council deserve real credit for turning the Made in America agenda into a concrete procurement practice rather than a slogan."

The capacity is already here. It's just underused.

AMMA members today can produce roughly 4.8 billion nitrile examination gloves per year, about 8 percent of an estimated 60 billion-glove hospital market, with the ability to scale to approximately 28-34 billion.

AMMA Members can produce about 2.1 billion surgical and procedure masks annually, roughly 30 percent of hospital demand, scalable to more than 5.1 billion, and about 435 million N95 respirators, scalable to 1.5 billion.

"Gloves, masks, and syringes are the everyday consumables of American medicine," said Eric Axel, Executive Director of AMMA. "A nurse goes through dozens of pairs of gloves in a single shift. A dental office, a dialysis center, a community clinic, all of them order the same basic products every week of every year. That steady, ordinary demand is the business that can sustain a domestic industry, and this forecast finally puts numbers to the federal share of it."

"Predictability from public and private industry is what turns capacity into hired workers, new equipment, and lines that run every day," Axel added.

Domestic manufacturing lines and plants are not idle because they lack capability. They are underused because health care purchasing leans on subsidized and unfair import prices rather than the true cost of making compliant products in the United States.

The country still imports 80 to 90 percent of its PPE, and in 2024 more than 87 percent of medical glove imports came from just three countries, including China.

Tom Allen, President of AMMA and owner of Altor Safety, a PPE manufacturer outside New York City, said the policy addresses the industry's core economics. "Our plants are built for routine volume, not spikes. When buyers chase the lowest quoted price quarter to quarter, domestic producers cannot plan. A published, quarterly forecast gives us something to build against."

What comes next

AMMA urged HHS to make the forecasts specific enough to act on, broken out by product category and time horizon. The association called on other federal buyers, including the VA and GSA, to adopt the same practice, including compliance with the Berry Amendment. It also asked private health systems and group purchasing organizations to publish comparable forecasts.

"If HHS can tell manufacturers what it will need, the systems and GPOs that buy the other 90 percent can do the same," Axel added. "That is how you build a domestic supply base that serves American patients every day."

The forecast lands amid a broader shift in federal policy toward domestic medical manufacturing. These include a Section 232 investigation into PPE and medical supply imports, two Section 301 investigations led by USTR Greer targeting subsidies and forced labor, new Buy American legislation, and proposed CMS reimbursement changes that would reward domestic sourcing

Momentum is also building through secondary sanctions tied to Russian energy purchases, adding tariff exposure for low-cost exporters, like China, that exploit the PPE market. Finally, trade authorities are increasingly identifying transshipment and tariff circumvention as deliberate practices rather than accounting quirks.

"Each of these on its own is a signal. Together they are a direction," AMMA President Allen said. "Manufacturers are starting to believe the market they have been asked to build is actually coming."

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About AMMA
The American Medical Manufacturers Association (AMMA) is an alliance of domestic makers of critical medical supplies, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers, and partners dedicated to transforming American innovation and manufacturing. AMMA’s mission is to ensure that the United States has consistent access to high-quality, U.S.-made PPE while actively working to create a more favorable environment for American innovation. AMMA fosters strategic partnerships, advocates for policy changes, and supports domestic producers. AMMA aims to catalyze a thriving ecosystem for medical manufacturing ecosystem. See our NEW website at www.AMMAUnited.org.

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