“GHX and McKesson continually strive to better integrate the supply chain in order to generate new efficiencies for hospitals and healthcare systems,” says GHX Chief Executive Officer Mike Mahoney. “By creating this strategic alliance, our joint users can obtain access to more suppliers and more accurate product information, at a lower cost.”

Through this alliance, providers gain the ability to conduct business electronically with more than 100 healthcare suppliers participating in GHX through a single, secure Internet connection, alleviating the need to establish and maintain separate connections with each of those suppliers. Providers and suppliers will also be able to transact business through a more secure Internet connection than previously available with a dial-up link.

By facilitating buyer and seller product data synchronization, access to the AllSource catalog can improve purchase order accuracy and minimize many of the most common and costly mistakes in healthcare purchasing. Building on the accuracy of the AllSource catalog, GHX Content IntelligenceÔ instills quality into the process by identifying product data errors in purchase orders earlier, when they are less costly to fix, and take steps to resolve future inaccuracies.

“Our clinical and materials management products seamlessly integrate to provide a true Closed Loop Supply Solution (CLSS), allowing healthcare providers to integrate patient, revenue and supply processes and information along the entire supply chain, ultimately improving performance, patient care and profits,” says John Nunnelly, McKesson Information Solutions group president for resource management and home health. “The in-depth connectivity to GHX will further enhance the strength of our CLSS, to provide our mutual customers with unprecedented efficiencies and savings.”

Horizon Supply Source is a Web-based solution designed to automate and streamline the procurement cycle for hospitals. It allows healthcare organization to further extend the requisitioning and product sourcing functions of McKesson’s NOVA® and Pathways Materials Management™ solutions to hospital departments not typically connected to materials management information systems (e.g., food services, radiology, and cath labs).

About Global Healthcare Exchange
Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) provides an open and neutral electronic trading exchange, along with complementary products and services, through which buyers and sellers can collaborate to improve efficiencies in the healthcare supply chain. GHX’s catalog and content services improve the accuracy of purchasing transactions, reducing many of the most common and costly problems in healthcare procurement, while the privately held company’s revenue neutral business model is designed to lower costs for all involved. GHX’s owners, strategic partners, and trading exchange participants are representative of the entire healthcare supply chain, including manufacturer and distributors; integrated delivery networks (IDNs), hospitals and ancillary healthcare facilities; group purchasing organizations and their proprietary healthcare trading exchanges; and supply chain technology companies. Equity owners of GHX include Johnson & Johnson Health Care; GE Medical Systems; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Abbott Exchange, Inc.; Siemens; Becton, Dickinson & Co.; Boston Scientific Corp. Tyco Healthcare Group, LP; Guidant Corp.; C.R. Bard, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Fisher Scientific International, Inc.; McKesson Corp.; B Braun Medical Inc.; Premier, Inc. and HCA. For more information, visit www.ghx.com.

About McKesson
McKesson Information Solutions is part of McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 20 healthcare services and information technology company. McKesson is dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 170-year history, McKesson has grown to provide pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at www.mckesson.com.