MEDLINE SHOWCASES GIANT GRAYSLAKE DISTRIBUTION CENTER: Northfield-based medical supply distributor and manufacturer Medline opened its 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center for tours by Lake County officials and its health care customers on Wednesday.
The largest medical-grade distribution center in the country is currently using about 800,000 square feet of warehouse space and employing 550 hourly and salaried employees, supporting over $1 billion in sales, Doug Golwas, Medline executive vice president of sales said.
The Grayslake distribution center could support other $600 million in sales and employ 1,000 people, he said.
The distribution center efficiency features include automated docking appointments for incoming materials, a fleet of robots that supply products to employees in picking stations who put health care customers' orders together, and Jennifer—a hands-free, voice navigation system that eliminates the need for more cumbersome and confusing hand-held computers, said Brian Bevers, senior vice president of operations for Medline.
The $125 million facility is part of a $2 billion Healthcare Resilience Initiative, Medline's national capital expenditure campaign that includes new distribution centers, manufacturing capabilities and information technology upgrades.
The sheer size of the Grayslake center is helping supply the growth strategy of health system clients and acts as a "shock absorber" for many of the supply chain disruptions the industry has experienced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Golwas said.
MEDLINE HONORS WORKERS WHO PITCHED IN AFTER HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING: During Wednesday's event, William Ingalls, Medline senior operations director at the warehouse, took the opportunity to thank a group of employees who helped after the mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade.
Ingalls said seven employees dropped their holiday plans and rushed to the Grayslake center to fill boxes of emergency medical supplies that were delivered to NorthShore Highland Park Hospital, where many casualties were taken, within two and a half hours of the shooting.
WHAT AMAZON'S BUY INTO PRIMARY CARE MIGHT MEAN: Amazon is throwing its weight behind doctors' visits with its $3.49 billion acquisition of national primary care company One Medical.
Amazon announced Thursday it would buy One Medical for $18 a share, the latest move by the e-commerce giant to muscle into the health care market.
One Medical, whose parent is called 1Life Healthcare, operates 182 medical offices in 25 markets in the U.S. Customers pay a subscription fee for access to its physicians and round-the-clock digital health services.
One Medical has an ongoing partnership here with Advocate Aurora Health and eight offices in the area, including Deerfield, Skokie, Oak Brook and five on the North Side of Chicago.
In July 2019, Advocate Aurora announced a partnership with One Medical and said in a statement at the time of the partnership that the relationship provides One Medical's Chicago members with streamlined access to Advocate Aurora's network of specialists and hospitals. The goal of the partnership was to drive "highly coordinated, digitally-enabled care," the statement said.
It's that coordinated, digital connection that's the holy grail for Amazon's entry into the world of primary care medicine, says Nathan Ray, Chicago-based partner in health care and life sciences for consultancy West Monroe.
Ray said Amazon has been making strategic, logical steps in entering the industry and that the One Medical acquisition should lead to bringing the Amazon brand of a tech-enabled customer experience to health care.
One Medical joins Chicago-based primary care companies Oak Street Health and VillageMD in seeking ways to make money by accepting health insurance risk and then using the "consistent, proactive patient engagement that drives better outcomes," Ray said.
"All these care models are an attack on the old guard," Ray said, with "old guard" medicine being more reactive and the newer companies looking to use virtual and digital technologies to be more proactive. READ MORE.
SYSTEMS EASE STANDARDS DURING NURSING SHORTAGE: Some of Chicago’s largest hospital chains are easing hiring standards, sometimes accepting associate degrees or less, as they work to prop up shrinking nursing teams.
Some of Chicago’s largest hospital chains, including the University of Chicago Medicine, Advocate Aurora Health and Sinai Chicago, are among those shifting hiring practices. READ MORE.
ROSALIND FRANKLIN UNIVERSITY LAUNCHES MASTER'S FOR ENTERING NURSING: While the nursing shortage may make nurses with only associate degrees a more valuable commodity, Rosalind Franklin University is looking to train more nurses with master's degrees.
The university's new College of Nursing has been approved by the Higher Learning Commission to offer a Master of Science in Nursing for Entry into Nursing Practice (MSN-ENP) degree, the North Chicago university said in a statement.
The program is designed to help alleviate a growing nursing shortage in Lake County and beyond.
“Nurses have proven to be among the greatest heroes of the pandemic,” University President and CEO Wendy Rheault said in the statement. “We need them now more than ever. We’re hoping to inspire more young people to enter the nursing profession and practice in their communities. We’re confident that we can graduate the nurses our clinical partners need to help improve quality of care and patient outcomes.”
The 24-month program will prepare students in fundamental nursing concepts and skills they will need to ultimately lead the profession, the statement said.
THE POTENTIAL COST OF BIDEN'S NURSING HOME STAFFING RULE: President Joe Biden's proposal to mandate staffing levels at nursing homes would require providers to hire 187,000 new nurses at a cost of up to $10 billion a year and displace nearly 1 in 5 residents, according to a report the American Health Care Association released Tuesday.
The nursing home lobbying group has long opposed regulations that dictate how many employees they must have on duty without a corresponding increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates to cover the added expense, Crain's sister publication Modern Healthcare reports.
"This report makes it crystal clear that increasing staffing standards in nursing homes requires substantial and consistent government resources. Even then, nursing homes would have the impossible task of finding another 187,000 nurses at a time when vacant positions sit open without applicants for months on end," AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson said in a news release.
Federal staffing minimums are part of the Biden administration's broader push to improve quality and safety in nursing homes after the heavy toll the COVID-19 pandemic exacted on residents and workers, who have been disproportionately affected. Biden also wants to tackle overcrowding, increase inspections and enforcement, and force greater transparency on the nursing home operators.
THE FACTS AROUND COVID, PRITZKER AND BIDEN: For all of you conspiracy theorists out there, Crain's Greg Hinz has some bad news.
No, Gov. J.B. Pritzker almost certainly didn’t get COVID-19 from President Joe Biden, even though both announced that they tested positive within 48 hours of each other. Or vice versa.
But there is a case to be made that the governor’s illness—he reportedly has mild symptoms and is isolating comfortably at home—is Ken Griffin’s revenge. Sort of. READ MORE
ABBOTT'S COVID TESTING SOARS, WHILE FORMULA SALES DROP: Abbott Laboratories' fortunes rose in the second quarter through significantly higher sales of rapid COVID tests compared to last year, while its troubled infant formula business fell, the North Chicago-based company said this morning.
Abbott's $11.3 billion in second-quarter worldwide sales was a 10.1% increase, led by $2.3 billion in global COVID-testing-related sales, an 81.7% jump from the second quarter of 2021.
Meanwhile worldwide pediatric nutrition sales dropped 15.3% amid the continuing formula shortage crisis and closure of its Sturgis, Mich. plant.
Though Abbott projects it will sell a staggering total of $6.1 billion in COVID testing this year, most of those sales have come to pass and it expects a steep drop off. Through June, COVID test sales brought in $5.6 billion, but Abbott estimates it will only sell $500 million in the second half of the year, the statement said. READ MORE.
PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS TREATED DIFFERENTLY, SURVEY SAYS: Chicago-based LifeWorks’ Mental Health Index, a survey of some 5,000 adults nationwide, shows 63% of Americans believe people with mental health conditions are treated differently, but 51% think their employers supported their mental health during the pandemic.
A full 93% of those surveyed said they are hesitant about how mental health conditions are treated, with 63% believing they are treated differently and 30% unsure.
Of those surveyed who felt supported cited work flexibility, 46%, employer promoted mental health services and resources, 31%, and dedicated days off for mental health care, 21%.
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