Supply Chain

Four drugs or medical devices approved by the FDA since May 24:

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.