On Feb. 6, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that flu activity was "elevated" across the U.S. The CDC estimates that since the current flu season began in October 2025 there have been at least 22 million illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations, and 12,000 deaths. Though last year, the CDC reported that flu activity peaked in early February, healthcare providers plan for increases in flu cases and potential peaks all month long.
Timothy Regan, MD, president and chief medical officer of Lakeland Regional Health (a Cardinal Health customer), which includes Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center in Lakeland, Florida, said the health system is maintaining a high level of vigilance for a late-season flu surge.
“We continually monitor what is going on in our communities and test all patients who present with flu symptoms,” he said. “We try to be nimble in terms of bed availability. Multiple times during the day, executive leadership meets to review bed capacity and to see how we can manage length of stay.”
Maintaining adequate supplies and personal protective equipment
Another part of preparedness for late-season flu surges at health systems and hospitals is ensuring there are adequate medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). One of the key lessons from last year's late-season flu surge was the need to plan for the duration of the season, according to Joan Smith, vice president, operations (east region), Cardinal Health Global Medical Products and Distribution (GMPD).
“Healthcare providers need to understand what happened in the prior year's flu season,” she said. “Understanding data points helps them anticipate the need for medical supplies and PPE, then they need to react nimbly when there are changes in what the data was leading them to believe.”
For medical supplies and PPE, Smith said this planning includes two primary elements. First, health systems and hospitals should stage inventory of supplies early in the season. Hospitals can create a pre-approved purchase order for supplies from their distributor with key materials and quantities of supplies that they may need during a surge event.
Second, health systems and hospitals should establish alignment across their care settings. Cardinal Heath works with hospitals, ambulatory practices and urgent care settings that often are under the same supply chain umbrella. When different care settings can share utilization trends and weekly status reports on inventory, they can be proactive to redistribute supplies to where they need them most, Smith said.
“Flu has airborne transmission, so you need to have masks such as N95 masks available,” Regan said. “In addition, you need gloves and gowns. These sound like simple supplies, but they are important to avoid the spread of flu viruses in your facilities.”
Smith suggested hospital and health systems have pre-approved lists of materials from their supply chain that they can share with their distributor to determine if they should reserve inventory for specific products.
“Health systems and hospitals should have a collaborative relationship with their distributors, which can reduce disruptions when flu surges occur," she said.
Editor’s note: This piece is excerpted from a story previously published in HealthLeaders. Read the full story here.
Visit our Newsroom for more on how Cardinal Health’s Global Medical Products and Distribution team helps healthcare providers brace for the impact of respiratory illness season with essential products and solutions.