Medline is advancing its footprint in the health system industry, and systems are building warehouses and buying their own medical supply companies.
Here are eight recent partnerships and deals in the healthcare supply chain:
Medline partners with St. Luke's
Duluth, Minn.-based St. Luke's signed a five-year contract with Medline Jan. 31. The partnership is a primary supplier vendor agreement for St. Luke's network, which includes two hospitals, three regional centers, three surgery centers and 40 clinics, according to a Medline news release.
Children's Nebraska, Medline broaden partnership
Children's Nebraska, a pediatric hospital in Omaha, extended its decadelong partnership with Medline on Feb. 6. The hospital and the medical supplier have been partners since 2013, and their relationship now includes a laboratory prime vendor agreement for the state's only full-service children's hospital, according to a Medline news release.
Medline, California system's partnership grows
Whittier, Calif.-based PIH Health and Medline expanded their yearslong partnership Feb. 14 to the system's laboratories, physician offices and post-acute facilities.
For more than 10 years, Medline has been the exclusive supply distributor for the system's three hospitals. Now, the medical supply company will be part of PIH Health's entire supply chain, according to a Medline news release.
Pennsylvania system taps Medline for prime vendor deal
Lehigh Valley Health Network signed a yearslong agreement for Medline to exclusively service medical supplies to the system's 13 hospital campuses. The Allentown, Pa.-based system chose the medical supply company to "create a leaner, more efficient supply chain" through cost-saving initiatives, according to a March 5 news release from Medline.
PruittHealth buys medical supply company
An affiliate of PruittHealth, a post-acute services system, acquired medical supply company Allied Health Resources on March 6.
PruittHealth, which has more than 180 locations across the Southeast, is the parent company of PruittHealth Medical Supply. The affiliate business scooped the supplier of respiratory and other medical equipment for an undisclosed amount, according to a news release from the Norcross, Ga.-based system.
Northwell taps supply chain risk management partner
Northwell Health is looking to simplify its supply vendor rankings by partnering with Exiger, a supply chain and third-party risk AI company.
Exiger will help the New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based system to streamline its supply chain risk management processes by rating vendors according to their criticality and risks, according to a March 21 news release.
St. Luke's pens 2 partnerships for future supply warehouse
Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System secured two partnerships for its planned warehouse in Meridian, Idaho.
St. Luke's selected Equipment Depot, a material handling and equipment rental company, and Hai Robotics, an automated storage and retrieval systems business, "to streamline order picking and fulfillment of medical surgical products" in the future warehouse, according to a March 25 news release.
California system chooses Vizient
Loma Linda (Calif.) University Health tapped Vizient on March 25 for an expansive agreement to access the healthcare performance company's cost-saving and quality improvement offerings.
The six-hospital system now is privy to the company's purchasing program, healthcare supply analytics and daily data on pharmacy spend, according to a Vizient news release.