--- title: Healthcare's Supply Chain Is On Thin Financial Ice | Five To Save description: Five To Save brings you the hottest (or coolest) five articles about healthcare's supply chain this week. image: https://www.z5inventory.com/hubfs/FTS%20-%20pig%20iceberg.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/healthcares-supply-chain-is-on-thin-financial-ice-five-to-save#main-content) [![Group 1211](https://www.z5inventory.com/hubfs/Group%201211.png)](https://www.z5inventory.com) - [Solutions](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions) - [Z5 Count](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-1) - [Z5 Fixed Asset](https://www.z5inventory.com/solution/fixedassetcount) - [Z5 Analytics](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0) - [Z5 Optimization](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-0) - [Who We Serve](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2022) - Company - [About Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact-2021) - [Contact Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact) - [Careers](https://www.z5inventory.com/careers) - [Blog](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog) - [Login](https://prod.z5development.com/) # Healthcare's Supply Chain Is On Thin Financial Ice | Five To Save [Alex Diamond](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/author/alex-diamond) 3/30/2021 ![FTS - pig iceberg](https://www.z5inventory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FTS%20-%20pig%20iceberg.jpg?width=1200&name=FTS%20-%20pig%20iceberg.jpg) Yes, we still do Five To Saves around here. It's been a big week. Just like every week for the past fifty-plus weeks. PPE sourcing has given way to vaccine distribution as the major headache for healthcare providers. But that all is shoving aside major, systemic issues that are still a threat - just one that takes longer to cause a systemwide collapse. Hospitals are punching sharks so they can stay afloat in freezing water.  Even though this isn't a promising way to phrase it, let's dive in.  1. Health and Human Services put a lot of work into figuring out something none of us could have possibly guessed: that [hospitals are struggling right now](https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-09-21-00140.asp). (Okay, eyerolls aside, this is a pretty good sum-up of the struggles in each department that you may not be encountering in your day-to-day but adds up to make all of our jobs more difficult.)  2. All those problems - supply chain inconsistencies; worsening staff mental health; fluctuating caseloads - are conspiring to [double the number of providers with a negative operating margin](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/negative-operating-margins-likely-for-39-of-hospitals-this-year-kaufman-hall.html) this year.  3. How about some good news? [The vaccines are proving extremely effective](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/cdc-mrna-vaccines-reduce-infection-by-90-among-healthcare-workers.html?origin=BHRE&utm_source=BHRE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=3114E1511489H5X).  4. How about some other good news? As long as we're determined to live with the virus instead of defeating it, an [oral antiviral that functions like Tamiflu for COVID-19](https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/91702) might be what we need.  5. Oh, and the story that the whole world was watching got everyone talking about our favorite subject: supply chain. But the Suez Canal debacle was only the [tip of the supply chain disruption iceberg](https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/03/27/suez-canal-economy/).  (See? We got back to cold water in the end. Even though that's maybe not all that relevant, since we're experiencing [unprecedentedly warm weather worldwide](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/japans-famous-cherry-blossoms-see-early-bloom-amid-warming/). But that's probably fine and will have no impact on healthcare or its supply chain anytime soon... Right?)  If you're not subscribing to our Five To Save newsletter, you're not getting the full story. Sign up to get more news, or you'll be in hot water with us. (Sorry.)    [selling medical inventory](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/selling-medical-inventory) [reallocation](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/reallocation) [buying medical supplies](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/buying-medical-supplies) [coronavirus](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/coronavirus) [covid-19](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/covid-19) [medical supply chain tracking software](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/medical-supply-chain-tracking-software) [service system for hospital inventory](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/service-system-for-hospital-inventory) [management of hospital inventory](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/management-of-hospital-inventory) ## Leave a Comment ## Related Posts ### [4/19/2022 Has Anything Crazy Happened In Healthcare's Supply Chain This Week? | Five To Save](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/has-anything-crazy-happened-in-healthcares-supply-chain-this-week-five-to-save) ### [7/19/2022 Announcing: The 2022 Outstanding Healthcare Inventory Awards](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/announcing-the-2022-outstanding-healthcare-inventory-awards) ### [6/8/2021 How To Make A Healthcare Initiative Successful (Spoiler: It's Collaboration) | Five To Save](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/how-to-make-a-healthcare-initiative-successful-spoiler-its-collaboration-five-to-save) ![Group 1212](https://www.z5inventory.com/hubfs/Group%201212.png) Z5 Inventory was founded with the purpose of saving health care providers nationwide from expiring product, empowering them to Count, Reallocate, and Buy their inventory all in one place. - [Solutions](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions) - [Z5 Count](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-1) - [Z5 Analytics](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0) - [Z5 Optimization](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-0) - Company - [About Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact-2021) - [Contact Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact) - [Careers](https://www.z5inventory.com/careers) - [Blog](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.z5inventory.com/privacy-policy) - [Get The App](https://www.z5inventory.com/platform) - [Apple App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/z5-count/id1557711721) - [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.z5inventory&gl=US) - [Dashboard Login](https://prod.z5development.com/) © 2026 All rights reserved. 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