The number of drug shortages in the US is on the rise, and they have some serious implications for health systems.

Shortages can cost health systems hundreds of millions of dollars, force providers to work longer hours, and compromise patient care quality.

The “inability to provide optimal patient care” is the number one implication, Michael Ganio, senior director of pharmacy practice and quality at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, told Healthcare Brew.

For one, a drug shortage could mean a provider can’t prescribe their top drug choice.

In a 2017 survey from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)—a nonprofit focused on helping health systems prevent medication errors—71% of providers said they were unable to prescribe a preferred drug due to shortages in the six months leading up to the survey. Because of that, 47% of the providers said they believed their patients received a less effective drug.

Keep reading here.—MA

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The Cigna Group, the healthcare company that employs over 70,000 people globally, says that on any given day, it’s hiring for 3,000–5,000 open positions.

But a few years ago, the firm’s vice president of talent acquisition, Amanda Day, realized those open positions weren’t on the radar of some of Cigna’s most promising candidates: its own employees.

“There’s no greater talent pool than your own,” Day told HR Brew. “And unfortunately, our ability to get out to the masses internally was not working well for us.” She said that employees had an easier time finding open positions at Cigna on LinkedIn than through their internal talent system.

Fearing Cigna would lose valuable talent to external competition, Day and her team decided to overhaul their internal talent management system using artificial intelligence (AI). She said the new system has made career opportunities more visible to current Cigna employees and helped boost internal hiring.

Keep reading on HR Brew.—CV

If you’re not deeply entrenched in the pharmacy world, you probably haven’t heard the phrase “340B.” But in recent years, the 340B program, created in 1992 under the Public Health Service Act, has been the subject of a lot of back-and-forth between drugmakers, hospitals, and the federal government.

What is it? The 340B program requires Medicaid-participating drugmakers to sell drugs at discounted prices to certain hospitals and clinics.

How good of a deal are we talking? And who gets it? Hospitals and clinics that participate in the program are called “covered entities,” and treat a large number of low-income, uninsured patients. Those facilities can receive a 25%–50% discount, according to the trade group the American Hospital Association (AHA).

But why? The idea is that since those facilities primarily treat low-income and uninsured patients, the covered entities have limited financial resources. Further, a drug discount would help hospital and clinic administrators stretch their resources to provide care for more patients.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not everyone loves the program.

Keep reading here.—MA

Could your camera be your new dermatologist? Google hopes so. The internet giant is rolling out a handful of new AI-powered search features with a focus on some of the things that matter most to consumers during the summertime: planning vacations, shopping for seasonal trends, and identifying skin conditions.