As any health care leader can attest, the stress of COVID-19, clinical staffing shortages, and burnout have taken a measurable toll on hospitals, impacting operations and patients in unforeseen ways, from elective-surgery scheduling postponements to prolonged emergency department wait times. Ratios of clinicians to patients are becoming even more strained. Retirements, staff layoffs stemming from vaccine mandates, plus cuts in staffing due to workers testing positive, have led to a rush to hire temporary nurses and other clinicians to handle the current surge in hospitalizations. As of January 9, nearly 137,000 people were reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States—more than 5 times as many as were in early July. cloud-based drug diversion software can detect and prevent the diversion of opioids and other prescription drugs. But although staffing challenges mean health care leaders may have to shift priorities, one area where they shouldn’t scale back is in t...