Medline plans to raise prices for hospitals and other customers Jan. 1 after concluding that inflation will last through 2027, executives said on the company’s Nov. 4 earnings call, according to a Nov. 4 report from Crain’s Chicago Business. The company did not say how large the increases will be.
Here are five things to know:
- Medline raises prices Jan. 1 and July 1 and gives customers 30 to 60 days’ notice, depending on the contract, according to the call. Notices for the January increase are going out now.
- Medline raised its estimated 2026 inflation cost to $80 million from $70 million. The costs include raw materials, finished goods, diesel fuel for its delivery fleet and inbound freight.
- CEO Jim Boyle said Medline absorbs temporary cost increases when it can and passes them on “when we see costs become a new reality.” He said price increases are “not a lever for growth” and that customers can mitigate them by moving to Medline-brand products, which carry higher margins for the company. The Medline Brand segment had $3.6 billion in third-quarter net sales, up 7%.
- Medline’s results include net refunds of tariffs struck down under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the company said helped third-quarter adjusted EBITDA. The company has accrued repayments of part of those refunds to customers. Its release says nine-month net sales were reduced by $78 million for those repayments.
- Medline raised its 2026 organic sales growth outlook to 10% to 10.5% and plans to invest in capacity in 2027 and beyond. It also authorized a $1 billion share repurchase, its first since going public, and prepaid $750 million of debt. After a June 11 fire destroyed its Tracy, Calif., distribution center, it leased two new Northern California centers, one of which opens in January 2027.
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