Five recent medical supply deals and acquisitions reported by Becker's Hospital Review since the end of March: 

The lack of a federal manufacturing strategy played a key role in the U.S. medical supply chain being unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., wrote in an April 28 opinion column published in The Hill. 

Innova Medical Group, a California-based antigen test maker, has acquired Pacific PPE Corp., an N95 mask manufacturer, the companies said April 26.

The U.S. will send medical supplies including personal protective equipment, testing kits and raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines to India as the country is experiencing a surge of new infections, the White House said April 25. 

U.S. hospitals create more than 29 pounds of waste per staffed bed per day. Health care delivery often puts the U.S. healthcare system in a juxtaposition of caring for the patient while harming the environment.

A clinically integrated supply chain breaks down key barriers between supply chain and clinical teams to deliver better patient care. However, many health systems don’t have an approach or a solution to help them establish their clinical integration goals, explained Christina Tosto, Vice President of WaveMark™ Supply Management & Workflow Solutions at ‎Cardinal Health.

Medical waste from hospitals and health systems is one of the top contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and disposable medical supplies play a primary role, according to a  column written by Alan Robin, MD, emeritus associate professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and Sathvik Namburar, a medical student at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. 

Vermont is beginning to figure out what to do with the extra medical supplies it ordered during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and health experts are challenged with ensuring the state has an ample supply for future outbreaks while also making sure the supplies don't expire, VTDigger, a local news outlet based in Montpelier, Vt., reported. 

Most hospitals and health systems are seeing greater availability of various types of personal protective equipment compared to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the overall PPE supply chain is still fragile, according to data from Premier.

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

Environmental sustainability is an important initiative for health systems, especially because the industry is one of the most carbon-intensive service sectors in the world.

Some California hospitals may have to delay surgeries because of a national blood shortage, ABC30 News, an ABC station in Fresno, Calif., reported April 20. 

Employee burnout rates in the healthcare sector were exceptionally high even before COVID-19. Burnout has a significant adverse influence on clinicians’ overall well-being, as well as their sense of job fulfillment, which results in higher employee turnover rates, lower-quality patient care and decreased patient satisfaction.

With COVID-19, personal protective equipment acquisition has been top of mind for healthcare leaders across the country. PPE concerns aren’t new, however. Even before the pandemic, healthcare organizations were reexamining their purchase criteria for medical gloves. To reduce allergic reactions among employees and patients, many providers converted to latexfree environments.

Take the time this season to spring clean your supply chain by clearing out hidden inefficiencies that might be increasing costs at your facility.

In January 2021, the American National Standards Institute and Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation released four amendments related to steam sterilization and sterility assurance in healthcare facilities, presenting a lot of information for healthcare facilities to unpack. 

Medline is exploring a sale that could value the company at as much as $30 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur, Ga., has had to throw out thousands of dollars in medical supplies due to poor management of them, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week. 

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific said April 15 it plans to acquire PPD, a North Carolina-based pharmaceutical testing company.