As Medline opens 2025, a recap of the biggest news of 2024

By Medline Newsroom Staff | January 28, 2025
Looking back on 2024, it was a year of more for Medline – more innovations added to its portfolio of 335,000-plus products, more collaborations, more growth, more prestige in the form of industry recognitions and, above all, more possibilities for customers – all driven by a resilient workforce that grew to 43,000 strong.
“Our relentless focus on the customer is what got Medline to where we are today and will keep us headed in the right direction for years to come,” CEO Jim Boyle said in October in a conversation with Modern Healthcare. “I have always known that we have a special group of employees at Medline, but in the year since I became CEO, I have been continually impressed with how quickly teams across the company react to problems and deliver solutions for our customers.”
Those combined efforts – everything from business acquisitions that bolster Medline’s capabilities to new care solutions to facility upgrades – were all part of the company’s persistent focus on giving providers the products, support and peace of mind they need to overcome their individual and industry challenges and make healthcare run better.
Enjoy this stroll back through Medline’s top news of the last 12 months:
BUILDING UP THE BUSINESS
In August, the company took a major step in expanding its product offering for operating rooms when it officially acquired the global surgical solutions business of Ecolab Inc., including the industry-leading Microtek™ product lines, closing on a deal first announced in April. Medline’s portfolio now includes Ecolab’s innovative sterile drape solutions and other surgical products, as well as its fluid temperature-management system.

This wasn’t the only M&A news. Last January, Medline continued to grow its health plans business with the acquisition of United MedCo, a segment-leading supplemental benefits administrator focused on serving the Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid and commercial insurance markets. In March, Medline also acquired the manufacturing rights and intellectual property of AG Cuffill, a compact and intuitive syringe-like device that provides an accurate solution for measuring both pressure and volume of airway cuffs in all clinical settings. Medline had been exclusively distributing the device since 2020 in partnership with Hospitech Respiration Ltd., the previous holder.
NEW PRODUCT INNOVATIONS
Medline got off to a hot start last January with the introduction of OptiView® Transparent Dressing with HydroCore™ Technology, a first-of-its kind clear wound dressing that uses a gel center to help redistribute pressure and draw heat away from the skin to create a cooling effect – all while allowing caregivers to evaluate skin texture, color variances and early signs of breakdown without lifting or removing the dressing. How well-received was OptiView? In November, it was one of just 20 ideas recognized at the 23rd annual Chicago Innovation Awards.

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OptiView (left) and FitRight
Meanwhile, customers are also embracing the FitRight® CONNECT™ Wetness Sensing System, a user-friendly combination of briefs and a sensor pod that was introduced in September to provide caregivers at skilled nursing homes real-time alerts and data on residents’ incontinence episodes and voiding patterns. The solution is intended to keep patients dryer for longer – an ongoing challenge at nursing homes, where the prevalence of incontinence is as high as 83.7%.
FitRight’s unveiling was preceded in May by the addition of the Hudson RCI® TurboMist™ small volume nebulizer to Medline’s respiratory portfolio. The product is designed to deliver medication treatments in as little as three minutes, as opposed to 10 or more minutes when using a traditional nebulizer.
Other solutions in the news in 2024 included the Lisfranc Plating & Screw System, introduced last January as the latest addition to Medline UNITE’s portfolio of midfoot trauma and reconstruction implants, and the QiVi MEC male external urine management device, which Medline announced in April it will exclusively distribute as part of its catheter portfolio.
PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENTS
In September, Medline shared its plans to add 111,000 square feet to its existing office space at the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago while also adding a 210,000-square-foot facility in Northbrook, Ill., not far from its global headquarters. That’s a significant expansion of the company’s Chicago-area footprint meant to provide more workspace for nearly 6,100 local employees.

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One of many new work areas in Medline’s in-house testing lab
Additionally, Medline celebrated a $27 million expansion of its in-house testing lab in Mundelein, Ill. – a project that tripled the size of the facility, updated mechanical systems and environmental controls and now allows 140-plus lab employees to test even more products, ingredients and solutions. The company also installed the AutoStore solution at its distribution center in Wilmer, Texas, bringing the number of Medline DCs using the technology to 20, with a total of more than 1,700 robots. That was in addition to the commencement of a $2.37 million solar installation at the Medline DC in Perryville, Md., the company’s 11th solar installation so far. It’s expected to be completed this spring.

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Medline has invested more than $34 million in solar energy since 2016.
WINNING COMBOS
The growth in Medline collaborations last year was just as exciting as the physical upgrades, with the biggest headline being a new team-up with Microsoft. As announced in October, the two companies are working together to design Mpower™, an innovative, predictive healthcare supply chain resiliency solution built on Microsoft 365 and powered by Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI. Using combined customer/supplier data and AI-generated insights, it’s intended to make complicated inventory management easier and give healthcare professionals proactive recommendations, simplifying their decision-making so they can devote more time and resources to patients.
In the world of lab, Medline announced in April that it’s now the direct distributor for Epredia, a member of the PHC Group and a global leader in anatominal pathology products and solutions that can help speed up precision cancer and tissue diagnostics.
And throughout 2024, with a focus on simplifying processes for as many healthcare customers as possible, Medline either expanded upon existing prime-vendor relationships or established new ones with numerous organizations, including Sutter Health, Vetter Senior Living, Lehigh Valley Health Network, PIH Health and Sanctuary Hospice.

EXCELLENCE CALLED OUT
Across healthcare and business, Medline’s growth, dedication and company culture continued to be noticed and recognized. The 2024 honors began last February, when Forbes named Medline among America’s 500 best large employers for the ninth consecutive year since the list was first issued in 2016. That was followed by repeat Forbes recognitions as a “Best Employer for New Grads” in May and a “Best Employer for Women” in July. Locally in the Chicago region, Medline also rose to 16th on the Chicago Tribune’s annual November list of the top workplaces in the area.

The Healthcare Industry Resilience Collaborative (HRIC) awarded Medline two “Diamond-level” Resiliency Badges in 2024 – one for healthcare supply chain resiliency in June and a second for manufacturing in August, the latter marking the first time a healthcare product supplier achieved Diamond status. In October, the kudos extended to Medline’s respiratory care division, which the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) recognized as one of just eight elite manufacturers and service organizations (out of 300 in consideration) with its annual Zenith Award.
December brought two more significant honors to wrap up the year – Modern Healthcare’s double recognition of Boyle as 24th out of its 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and Medline itself as one of three “Best of Business” honorees in the supply chain category.

See how Medline’s commitment to customers and quality was showcased elsewhere in 2024 in the “Medline in the News” section of the Medline Newsroom.
Medline Newsroom Staff
Medline Newsroom Staff
Medline's newsroom staff researches and reports on the latest news and trends in healthcare.