Category: Supply Chain

Rising costs in the medical supply chain are pushing health system leaders to get creative, according to Jay Kirkpatrick at Lifepoint Health and Bill Keller at HCA Healthcare. 

Memorial Hermann Health System is the latest hospital system to partner with Zipline, a drone and logistics company. 

Cardinal Health’s pharmaceutical distribution contracts with OptumRx, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, will not be renewed, the medical distributor said April 22. 

The global medical supply chain is flawed and all stakeholders have a hand in these issues, according to the American Medical Association. 

Abbott and its subsidiary Thoratec Corp. warned customers of 13,883 heart devices after receiving reports of 273 injuries and 14 deaths related to blood flow obstructions. 

The FDA said U.S. healthcare workers should avoid all plastic syringes manufactured by Jiangsu Shenli Medical Production as the agency investigates multiple syringe suppliers. 

With the help of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Vizient and the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, the Collective Healthcare Action to Reduce MedTech Emissions launched April 9.

The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule it predicts will slash more than 6,200 tons of chloroprene and ethylene oxide emissions, which are used by chemical and medical sterilization plants. 

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania restricted Philips Respironics from producing and selling new respiratory devices from two facilities in the U.S., the FDA said April 9. 

Johnson & Johnson has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the cardiovascular medical device company Shockwave Medical, the drugmaker said April 5.