From empty grocery store shelves to medical supply shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed global supply chain inefficiencies. 

As outpatient surgery facilities resume surgeries after postponements due to COVID-19,1 contamination concerns may cause anxiety for otherwise healthy patients.

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

A Georgia man was charged May 28 with attempting to sell 50 million N95 masks he didn't actually possess to a foreign government for $317 million. 

A shortage of the machines that process COVID-19 tests and give results is slowing efforts to ramp up diagnostic testing, NPR reported. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing an array of  supply chain challenges for hospitals and health systems, such as a backlog of diagnostic testing and shortages of supplies and personal protective equipment.

Novant Health launched the first hospital emergency drone program to help its COVID-19 pandemic response. 

The FDA is investigating the lab that AdventHealth cut ties with last week after saying it received thousands of unreliable COVID-19 diagnostic tests, USA Today reported. 

Premier, a group purchasing organization, and 15 health systems partnered to acquire a minority stake in Prestige Ameritech, the largest producer of personal protective equipment in the U.S., to help make sure more healthcare products are protected from shortages. 

The FDA removed 29 COVID-19 antibody tests from its list of authorized tests because they didn't meet the agency's updated guidelines. 

As demonstrated by the national responses to COVID-19, alternate sites of care have been essential in assisting with the increased pressure placed on the US healthcare system.1

As limited doses of the drug remdesivir make its way around the country, states, counties and hospitals are making plans on how to distribute it — and these plans may be drastically different, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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

COVID-19 testing remains a critical barrier to reopening the U.S. economy. 

With less funding than large health systems, rural hospitals often have to work with limited supplies, and public health experts have warned that they could become the next COVID-19 hot spot due to their lack of resources.

Healthcare workers experienced shortages of personal protective equipment into early May, with about two-thirds citing insufficient supplies of N95 masks, according to a poll from The Washington Post and Ispos. 

HHS gave $225 million to rural health clinics May 20 to boost access to COVID-19 testing in rural communities. 

While medical device recalls declined in the first quarter of 2020, a surge in product recalls is expected when the relaxed regulatory environment ends, according to medical waste disposal and compliance training company Stericycle.

Managing a hospital or health system’s transportation costs is a complex task that requires proactive planning and ongoing monitoring to maximize savings and control costs. 

Thermo Fisher Scientific has signed a contract to supply the US government with viral transport media to move swabs with COVID-19 test samples to labs.