Warning: there's turbulence ahead. And it's inevitable. Or just about. Disasters are growing exponentially and ... alarmingly ... according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), which set the number of global natural disasters in 2016 at just under 300 - gigantic increase over, say, 1900, when there were fewer than ten such events.

Grace Medical Center, a 123-bed hospital in the Grace Health System, has prevented $15,000 in food from spoiling since August by installing a real-time location system (RTLS) to monitor the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers, the hospital says. The system, made by ZulaFly, consists of the company's own cloud-hosted Fuzion software platform to capture data from CenTrak RFID temperature sensors.

The path to greater agility and control may lead outside your company. In fact, many midsized and smaller healthcare companies need to learn to let go of supply chain tasks and operations that are better handled by expert third-party logistics providers (3PLs). By focusing on what you do best, and outsourcing critical but peripheral activities to 3PLs, your business is in a better position to experience cost efficiencies that you can pass on to patients.

No one looks forward to a hospital stay, but the tech amenities at Jacobs Medical Center could make visits more comfortable for patients. With an iPad and Apple TV in every room, patients will be able to control room settings such as temperature, lighting and window shades, the hospital says. They can access games, log into their own social and entertainment apps, and control the TV. The iPad also provides access to a patient's electronic medical records, including information such as medications, caregivers' names, diagnostic data, and upcoming lab work or medical procedures.

Waste in the use of high-value medical devices amounts to some $5bn year. No wonder healthcare costs are soaring.