Amazon is donating $1 million in Amazon.com gift cards to the American Red Cross to help entice more people to donate blood and reduce shortages.

LifeShare Blood Center, a major blood supplier to hospitals in Louisiana, eastern Texas and southern Arkansas, is rationing blood.

Most healthcare leaders view supply chain as a strategic asset that can be tapped to cut costs amid declining reimbursements and tightening operating budgets. But many health systems have yet to use the supply chain to effect clinical change.

In the past, inventory management was mostly done manually and took a lot of time. Because of that, trying to standardize products was very hard to do.

The FDA is warning hospitals, laboratories and clinicians about a Class 1 recall of three hematology analyzers manufactured by Beckman Coulter after several reports of inaccuracies related to blood platelet counts.

Four drugs or medical devices approved by the FDA since May 17:

Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center is not accepting new patients because of  a lack of supplies, according to the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.

Pharmacy giant Walgreens and grocer Kroger will offer shoppers an option to buy products in reusable packaging.

Standardizing surgical kits can be a tremendous cultural shift; top-down efforts alone have difficulty succeeding. Every stakeholder must participate – including materials management, clinicians and the C-suite.

Dozens of federal investigators last month raided an office building in Largo, Fla., which was filled with medical device supply companies, according to local NBC affiliate WPTV.

Providers are continually searching for best practices to control costs without jeopardizing patient care, especially as declining reimbursements and increasing product expenses continue to squeeze hospital margins.

Five recent drugs or medical devices approved by the FDA since May 10:

The American Red Cross and Bloodworks Northwest — two organizations that provide blood supply to hospitals across the nation — are still facing critical shortages of two blood types, prompting them to offer rewards to attract donors, according to The Seattle Times.

In an effort to alleviate a U.S. shortage of IV fluids, B. Braun Medical will invest $1 billion to build or expand facilities that produce the fluids.

Hospitals and health systems that use group purchasing organizations save 13.1 percent on supply-related buying costs compared to those that don't use GPOs, according to a new report commissioned by the Healthcare Supply Chain Association.

Amazon will pay workers $10,000 and three months of their existing pay to quit and start their own package delivery companies, according to CNBC.

Walmart will launch next-day delivery services for its shoppers in three West Coast markets within the next few days, according to CNBC.

Based on the proven best practices followed by many healthcare providers across the country, follow these three steps as you establish your own procedure pack standardization strategy1:

Four drugs or medical devices have been approved by the FDA since May 3:

The World Health Organization is revamping its Ebola vaccination strategy in Congo as the outbreak continues to outrun vaccination efforts and supply of Merck's Ebola vaccine dwindle, according to a WHO news release.