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Developing a disaster preparedness program is just the start of being able to properly respond to supply chain emergency situations. The best plans evolve based on lessons learned during an actual event. The four-level program implemented at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee shows how improved results can be achieved by focusing on communications. Their work before the second wave of the H1N1 influenza outbreak helped the organization avoid some of the product shortages and capacity strains so many other hospitals and health systems experienced.

Focusing on ways to improve patient outcomes, the American Hospital Association has launched Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence. This effort to transform patient care through shared innovations highlights achievements at various hospitals around the country in areas including patient safety, reducing health care-acquired infections, medication management and patient throughput. As this report illustrates, the roles of materials management, nursing, infection control specialists and others are critically important to this effort.

This month's foldout section examines what hospitals can do to make sure the products and medicines they use are authentic and safe. It describes the roles of government, manufacturers, providers and patients in spotting and reporting problems. And it pays special attention to the ways hospitals can disseminate recall notices out to all affected staff as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

For benchmarking hospital supply expense to be meaningful, the healthcare industry needs an accurate and generally agreed-upon definition of "supply expense."

Supply-chain management--the art of getting the most at the least cost from the products and services purchased by an organization--has transformed industries such as manufacturing and retailing, and can potentially do the same for healthcare. VHA is committed to keeping its members educated on current thinking and best practices in supply-chain management. In support of that mission, four supply chain experts gathered in Chicago recently at Modern Healthcare's offices to discuss the issues they face in their organizations and the strategies they've found most successful in addressing them.

"Affiliation" may be defined as a collaborative interaction between two (or more) organizations in a spirit of mutual benefit through an equitable contribution of resources. Across the United States, hundreds of medical schools and healthcare organizations affiliate with one another for the enhancement of patient care, education, and research. Oftentimes, both parties in the affiliation have active clinical and research programs that involve the use of radioactive material (RAM). The combination of this close affiliation and use of radioactive material presents a number of challenging radiation safety compliance issues. It is important for radiation safety professionals (RSPs) employed by each affiliate to work together to ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.