Supply Chain

Shares of medical device maker Medtronic Inc. surged Tuesday after the Minneapolis-based company said it would go ahead with its planned $49.2 billion merger with Covidien.

There's a great deal at stake in hospital sourcing and the management of medical supplies. A focus on lowering costs by standardized purchasing of drugs or devices can't come at the expense of compromising high-quality care.

Opportunities still exist within the healthcare supply chain for improvement and greater efficiency of operations. Lately, price alignment strategies appear to be at the forefront as the newest hope for cost containment.

Though supply chain professionals are keenly aware of the importance of quality and cost, their clinical counterparts may not be as familiar with an organized movement to link these two components with patient outcomes.

As cost control initiatives take on increasing weight at hospitals and health systems, organizations must focus more intently on stemming the costs of medical device procurement.

There’s a great deal at stake in hospital sourcing and the management of medical supplies. A focus on lowering costs by standardized purchasing of drugs or devices can’t come at the expense of compromising high-quality care.

The ideal prescription for hospitals wanting to reduce their pharmaceutical costs could be tighter controls and staying on top of shortages.

More than 80 percent of hospitals in the U.S. expect to be engaging in sustainability purchasing within two years, according to a recent survey. For the hospitals that expect to jump on the green bandwagon, there's a lot to learn.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recent 10-year projection of national health expenditures includes retail spending on prescription drugs, but a more complete picture of pharma spending would include the nonretail segment.

Are hospitals exploiting the 340B drug discount program? Critics of the federal government's program have some new evidence in the debate over healthcare subsidies.