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.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely celebrated as a game-changing technology for field service and maintenance applications because it allows one device to "talk" to another, communicating when a machine or system could potentially degrade or fail. But what if the "breakdown" is occurring not within a facility or a production process, but within the human body?

The future of the U.S. healthcare system could be influenced to a large extent by a company that makes weapons of war.

American Airlines Cargo has signed with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to obtain certification for the handling of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products.