Supply Chain

As the coronavirus spreads through China — which produces 13 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used in the U.S. — 85 percent of supply professionals expect supply chain interruptions, according to a report by Kemiex. 

Below are five of the top supply chain stories published by Becker's Hospital Review in January, beginning with the most popular:

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, sales of medical face masks have spiked, especially since the government confirmed the first human-to-human transmission of the virus. 

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

UC San Diego Health is launching a drone transport program in collaboration with UPS to speed up delivery time of medical samples, supplies and documents between its hospitals.

Supplies of medical masks are dwindling at drugstores and online retail platforms as people across the globe race to buy them amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to Bloomberg. 

Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health is moving to one group purchasing organization in an effort to better integrate supply chain operations at its 137 hospitals and 700 other care sites.

King Systems is recalling 171 of its laryngoscope adapters after finding they display a reversed image, the company announced Jan. 24. 

Medical device industry lobbying spiked in the last quarter of 2019 as AdvaMed, the industry's largest trade group, nearly tripled its spending, according to Politico's Prescription Pulse newsletter. 

In recent months, several medical device sterilization plants have been forced to shut down among rising concerns that ethylene oxide, a chemical used to sterilize more than half of the country's medical devices, can cause cancer.