Medline has resumed sterilizing medical supplies at its plant in Waukegan, Ill., about two months after it originally predicted, a company spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review. 

Medtronic is recalling 822 of its pipeline flex embolization devices, which are used to treat brain aneurysms, after finding the delivery system can break during surgery and leave fractured pieces inside patients' brain bloodstreams. 

General Motors will build 30,000 ventilators for the national stockpile under a $489.4 million contract with the federal government, CNBC reported. 

President Donald Trump said the government will purchase 166.5 million masks from 3M over the next three months, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Ventilators, the medical devices used to help patients with severe COVID-19 infections breathe, are in severe shortages around the country as hospitals struggle to meet increased demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained the healthcare supply chain across the U.S. and resulted in shortages of critical drugs and medical supplies. 

Washington state will return more than 400 ventilators to the strategic national stockpile, Gov. Jay Inslee announced April 5.

Now more than ever, the vital work that supply chain professionals perform every day is key in supporting patient care.

The CDC has released a set of strategies to maximize the use of face masks when supply is scarce or unavailable.

Amazon is no longer allowing the general public to buy certain medical supplies, such as N95 masks and diagnostic tests, to prioritize the supplies for hospitals and government agencies, CNBC reported. 

New York state is paying as much as 15 times the normal price for medical supplies as shortages force states to go outside their normal vendors and aren't protected by price-gouging laws, ProPublica reported. 

The FDA updated its guidelines for who is eligible to donate blood as the U.S. faces a severe shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hospitals should prepare for a demand for medical supplies as much as 17 times higher than normal,  a survey of 1,591 hospitals conducted by Premier suggests. 

Ten hospitals and health systems posted job listings for supply chain expertise in the last week:

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center developed a strategy for hospitals to ethically allocate ventilators to patients when faced with shortages, Stat reported. 

Physicians at Greenville, S.C.-based Prisma Health created a low-cost, 3D-printed connector device to help increase ventilator capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Below are five of the top supply chain stories published by Becker's Hospital Review in March, beginning with the most popular:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and HHS have created a supply chain stabilization task force to address the limited supply of critical protective equipment across the country.

New York City-based Northwell Health said it has developed a protocol to transform a BiPAP machine into a functional ventilator and that it plans to share the design online so other hospitals facing ventilator shortages can prepare. 

Shortages caused by the coronavirus pandemic are going beyond personal protective equipment and ventilators, affecting things such as personal care thermometers, oxygen and medical professionals trained to care for ventilated patients.