Supply Chain

Lehigh Valley Health Network signed a yearslong agreement for Medline to exclusively service medical supplies to the system's 13 hospital campuses. 

Hospital systems' supply chain teams are increasingly working on environmental initiatives as climate change threatens the healthcare industry. 

As hospitals and health systems worry over the unsteady supply of helium, a necessary element for MRI machines, Royal Philips installed its thousandth "virtually helium-free MRI," the company said Feb. 28. 

AdventHealth, in partnership with Medline, has opened a new 375,000-square-foot supply facility in Central Florida, according to a Feb. 28 announcement.

Here are six recent warnings the FDA has issued since Jan. 1:

 The CDC is anticipating a shortage of Td vaccines — which protect against tetanus and diphtheria — as the maker of one shot has discontinued production. 

Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center appointed William Obremskey, MD, as its executive medical director of supply chain services. 

U.S. supply chain leaders often underestimate the risk of labor-related issues, both domestically and with foreign suppliers, according to Kevin Kolben, a supply chain labor expert and professor of business law at Newark, N.J.-based Rutgers Business School.

Twenty-five lots of eye ointments are being pulled from CVS, Walmart and two other distributors because of a sterility risk, the FDA said Feb. 26. 

The FDA is recalling additional saline and sterile water products made by Nurse Assist after receiving reports of adverse events.