In major hospitals, pharmacy costs can run hundreds of millions of dollars annually. That’s one of the reasons effective medication inventory management is so critical. Technology that allows health systems to identify major pharmacy trends, including medication waste or operational inefficiencies, can significantly impact a hospital’s bottom line. 

Medline is recalling certain procedure kits, trays and packs that include saline from Nurse Assist, the FDA said in a March 25 notice. 

Loma Linda (Calif.) University Health tapped Vizient on March 25 for an expansive agreement to access the healthcare performance company's cost-saving and quality improvement offerings. 

Medical supply company Masimo is considering a joint venture as it looks to split off its consumer business, The Wall Street Journal reported March 25. 

Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System secured two partnerships March 25 for its planned warehouse in Meridian, Idaho. 

Quincy, Ill.-based Blessing Health System promoted Amy Ogle, a respiratory therapist and store manager, to be the director of durable medical equipment operations for its medical supply company. 

Here are six warnings the FDA has issued about medical devices since March 1:

After the FDA reported a potential quality issue related to China-made plastic syringes in November, BD increased its domestic manufacturing efforts. 

An unspecified number of ambulatory infusion pumps were recalled because of nearly 3,700 complaints related to several product issues, the FDA said March 20. 

In a Class I recall, the most serious type, customers of more than 6.6 million resuscitators were advised to discard or destroy the devices because of a manufacturing defect. 

Abiomed updated warnings on more than 60,000 Impella Left Sided Heart Pumps because the device might cut the wall of the heart's left ventricle, the FDA said March 21. 

"Black swan" events, or debilitating incidents that are nearly unpredictable, showcase the necessity for supply chains to have resiliency plans — but most organizations aren't prepared, according to a March 20 report from MIT Technology Review Insights. 

Northwell Health is looking to simplify its supply vendor rankings by partnering with Exiger, a supply chain and third-party risk AI company. 

The White House is expanding a data partnership with numerous U.S. companies and logistics providers to track supply chain operations in real time.

Nearly four months after the FDA said it was investigating reports of China-made syringes breaking and leaking, the agency confirmed the quality issue and found the problem is "more widespread than originally known."

 Massachusetts is implementing new regulations to protect horseshoe crabs, which play a key role in drug and device safety, the Portland Press Herald reported March 19.

The American Hospital Association's supply chain group, Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management, named Mike Schiller as its new executive director March 18. 

A software company that went through Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai's accelerator program is aiming to streamline the medical device recall process, Fast Company reported March 14.

For about a year, Cleveland Clinic has built and tested an AI-powered chatbot that generates answers on supply orders. Over the next three months, the technology will be launched to the system's 7,000-some employees who regularly place orders. 

Healthcare organizations have faced unprecedented pressures in the last decade. Shifting consumer preferences, changing reimbursement models and supply chain disruptions have all become the norm. In addition, health system leaders routinely struggle with escalating costs, as well as eroding margins.