About half of the nation's hospitals are eyeing more control of the medical supply chain, according to a survey sample involving 250 hospital and health system leaders. 

The FDA narrowed its umbrella emergency use authorization for disposable, single-use surgical masks used in healthcare on March 6 after more than two years of the EUA prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

During the pandemic, product disruptions were the norm for healthcare supply chain teams. Many organizations didn't have the analytics or technologies necessary to analyze problems and develop solutions. Today, supply chain leaders at hospitals and health systems face additional challenges due to talent shortages and rampant inflation.

Boston-based Mass General Brigham tapped Medline on Feb. 27 as its strategic medical supply vendor. 

GE Healthcare said Feb. 23 it expects its contrast media products, which are used in CT scans and fell into shortage in May 2022, will return to normal supply levels in the next few weeks. 

Neonatal incubators may be exposing people to "volatile chemicals," the FDA warned healthcare workers Feb. 23. 

West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health is looking to strengthen its laboratory supply chain with a new partnership with Quest Diagnostics, the two companies said Feb. 16. 

Philips Respironics recalled 13,811 ventilators the company reworked or replaced after it pulled millions of them off the market in summer 2021. 

GE HealthCare issued a recall of 688 of its Nuclear Medicine 600/800 Series Systems after identifying an issue that could lead to the machine's detector falling and trapping or crushing a patient. In a Feb. 15 statement, the FDA classified this as a Class I recall because the faulty machines could result in serious injury or death.

Here are 10 health systems and hospitals that posted job listings seeking supply chain expertise in the last week. 

After the U.S. shot down a "high-altitude object" hovering above Alaska's waters on Feb. 10 and a confirmed Chinese spy balloon the week prior, it's unclear what these actions mean for the U.S.-China medical supply chain. 

New Orleans-based Ochsner Health and its supply company, SafeSource Direct, teamed up with seven U.S.-based medical device manufacturers to form the American Medical Manufacturers Association. 

Abbott said Feb. 8 it will acquire St. Paul, Minn.-based Cardiovascular Systems, a medical device company with products for treating peripheral and coronary artery disease, in a deal worth $890 million. 

Here are 10 health systems and hospitals that posted job listings seeking supply chain expertise in the last week. 

Royal Philips and TriHealth, a five-hospital system based in Cincinnati, partnered Feb. 9, and the system's new Heart & Vascular Institute expects to benefit from the yearslong arrangement.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Association applauded President Joe Biden's recent State of the Union speech for his comments on boosting domestic manufacturing, according to a statement shared with Becker's. 

The Federal Helium Reserve, which supplies about 40 percent of the world's helium supply, has been for sale for over a year — and the future of the element that MRIs require is unknown, NBC News reported Feb. 7. 

Minneapolis-based Smiths Medical recalled nearly 20 million medical devices after two deaths, 25 injuries and 10,672 incidents were reported, the FDA said Feb. 2. 

The manufacturer of EzriCare Artificial Tears, which has been linked to a drug-resistant bacteria outbreak, is recalling the over-the-counter eye drops, The New York Times reported Feb. 2.

Jeromie Atkinson, UCHealth's former interim vice president of supply chain, joined Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based DCH Health on Feb. 1 as its supply chain vice president.