2001 GHX Press Releases

WESTMINSTER, Colo.- July 2, 2001- Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) has selected two high-profile nonprofit organizations with which to establish standards. GHX is collaborating with ECRI, an independent nonprofit health services research agency, to develop a standardized catalog taxonomy; GHX is also working with the Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC), an industry-sponsored, nonprofit standards development organization, to establish standard product and customer numbers. GHX is a natural leader in promoting these standards because it is the only Internet transaction platform that is already deeply integrating with healthcare suppliers. "E-commerce has created an opportunity to drive real savings and measurable value into the healthcare marketplace," said Marc Schessel, president of Integrated Supply Strategies. "However, to fully unlock the power of e-commerce, standardization of information is required. Not until the industry as a whole defines and adopts basic standards will we be able to achieve all of the efficiencies and value that e-commerce companies are working to deliver." "For quite some time, materials managers have understood the value of creating industry-wide standard definitions," stated Marc Westerman, corporate director materials management at Orlando Regional Medical Center. "We've recognized the need to have accepted standards in place in order to drive efficiencies in the supply chain. E-commerce now re-energizes these efforts. I hope e-commerce becomes the mechanism that finally delivers these quality standards to our industry." GHX's support of ECRI, HIBCC and other standards brings global standardization within reach for the entire healthcare supply chain. GHX President Mike Mahoney explains: "Because data translation across systems becomes unnecessary with consistent standards, hospitals benefit from reduced errors in their purchasing process. By ushering in the proper standards, we can ensure that this improved efficiency can occur globally. "The EU and many nations have adopted ECRI's system, now available in more than six languages; HIBCC is also available in more than six languages and has important industry board members, including the American Hospital Association and the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association. ECRI and HIBCC focus on different, but complementary, standardization elements in the healthcare supply chain. Only through the simultaneous efforts of these and other standards bodies will the healthcare industry be able to move to the next level of efficient transactions. As the standard catalog taxonomy and standard product and customer numbers form a reliable foundation for efficient e-commerce, the entire healthcare supply chain will benefit from GHX and GHX member support of these important standards initiatives. *Catalog taxonomy allows simple queries for similar products, lays e-commerce foundation* Through a unique relationship, ECRI and GHX will extend the application and development of the Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System^TM (UMDNS^TM), a standard catalog taxonomy for medical devices and materials, disposables and supplies, clinical laboratory equipment, and in vitro diagnostics. UMDNS standardizes the way that products are identified, organized, and retrieved. Comparable sutures, for instance, would all be found in the same standard descriptive category. With UMDNS, a hospital user reduces the time spent looking for and identifying appropriate products. "The standard descriptions that come from UMDNS will let hospitals pull up multiple suppliers of like items at the touch of a button," said Greg Stivers, GHX's executive director of product management. All non-hospital supply chain companies benefit because the UMDNS focuses on coding all medical/surgical products. This coding is an important step for effective e-commerce to occur, because it integrates products into a digitized taxonomy from their point of introduction in the supply chain. Once classified in the UMDNS, products will easily integrate into other classification systems, including standards defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other governmental bodies. Existing UMDNS applications range from hospital inventory and work order controls to national agency medical device regulatory systems, e-commerce and procurement and medical device databases, including the GHX industry standard catalog. *Standard product and customer numbers eliminate expensive cross-referencing* GHX and HIBCC will ensure the creation of unique Universal Product Numbers (UPNs) for all products in the GHX catalog and unique Health Industry Numbers (HINs) for each hospital or hospital department in the GHX network. Truly universal UPNs and HINs prevent not only confusion in purchase orders, but also prevent time and money wasted on mistaken orders. With improved product identification, catalog data can interface easily with all supply chain members' information systems, reducing data relay costs and allowing for real-time purchasing and catalog updates. With complete adoption of UPNs in the GHX system, "distributors will no longer have to develop and maintain multiple, inefficient and expensive cross-referencing processes in order to track products or handle rebate details," said Stivers. GHX's leadership towards industry-wide adoption of UPNs will allow GHX hospitals to identify and order products without extensive catalog research and shopping time, with no need to maintain large databases and multiple cross-references of the products they stock. Manufacturers are also ensured that a customer wanting to order specific products is able to identify and specify those products when ordering. HINs serve as an "address" that allows each partner to rapidly match information it receives to its own customer list whenever it shares or exchanges information with others, supporting GHX's efforts to create an industry-wide directory. For example, unique HINs will ensure that hospitals get the contract prices that they deserve. In group purchasing contract administration alone, the industry has already saved millions of dollars per year in charge back and rebate processing costs through the use of HINs. HIN use dramatically reduces clerical and administrative costs for claims processing, and allows manufacturers to more accurately track product sales to their final destination. The HIN eliminates expensive and inefficient administrative cross-referencing tasks. About ECRI ECRI is an independent nonprofit health services research agency. ECRI's mission is to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare. The organization is widely recognized as one of the world's most trusted organizations for unbiased, reliable information. ECRI's focus is healthcare technology, healthcare risk and quality management, and healthcare environmental management. The ECRI catalog classification and numbering are available for license at-cost from ECRI. For more information, visit www.ecri.org About HIBCC Founded in 1983, HIBCC is an industry-sponsored, nonprofit standards development organization (SDO) that maintains labeling standards for hospitals and their suppliers. Founded in 1983, HIBCC's standards are accredited by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). The HIBCC mission is to facilitate electronic commerce by developing appropriate standards for information exchange among healthcare trading partners. This mission is extended globally via IHIBCC, a network of HIBCC offices located throughout the world. For more information regarding HIBCC and its mission, or to obtain copies of its standards, call (602) 381-1091, or visit the Web site: www.hibcc.org About Global Healthcare Exchange Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) provides business-to-business procurement solutions for the healthcare industry. Utilizing Internet-based technology, the company seamlessly integrates hospitals and suppliers, thereby improving efficiencies and adding value throughout the supply chain. GHX provides single-source ordering and tracking for both medical and non-medical products. The privately held company was founded in March 2000 and now comprises more than 100 supplier members and 300 hospital members. Equity members of GHX include Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical Systems, Baxter International Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic Inc., Becton Dickinson and Co., Boston Scientific Corporation, C.R. Bard Inc., Guidant Corporation, Siemens Medical Solutions and Tyco International, Ltd. For more information, visit www.ghx.com. Contacts Cheryl Flury Director of Marketing Global Healthcare Exchange 720.887.7000 Lisa Miller or Jason Rodman BRW LeGrand (for GHX) 303.298.8470 lmiller@brwlegrand.com
Posted on Monday, July 02, 2001 Posted by host
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