Supply Chain

Senate Democrats introduced a bill April 29 that would federalize the medical supply chain to increase production of supplies needed to combat COVID-19, The Hill reported. 

Testing for COVID-19 remains one of the biggest obstacles in reopening the U.S. economy and returning to a pre-COVID life. 

LabCorp is now offering free COVID-19 antibody tests for anyone with an order from a healthcare provider. 

Quest Diagnostics is now offering a COVID-19 antibody test without need for a physician's appointment, CNBC reported. 

To impact costs around product usage, the supply chain needs support from clinicians. When it comes to product standardization and other supply chain initiatives in procedural areas, a cost savings story without data-driven rationale may not be enough to create…

UnitedHealth Group is working with Boston Scientific, Medtronic and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to deploy 3,000 emergency ventilators to providers, the organizations said April 23. 

Amazon has opened a nonprofit online store for COVID-19 first responders that sells face shields, surgical masks, ventilators and other supplies, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported. 

Lab officials say Abbott's rapid COVID-19 test poses a greater risk of infection to those administering it than other types of diagnostic tests, Kaiser Health News reported.

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

Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente is converting a warehouse in Berkeley, Calif., into a $14 million testing site that will process 70,000 COVID-19 diagnostic tests per week, Berkeleyside reported.