Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. has identified improved data accuracy as a key factor in driving costs out of the supply chain. “Reducing the number of orders that must be handled manually due to inaccurate data is central to our ability to move to a fully automated, hands-free system,” says e-Business Manager Tuck Bigelow. According to the Healthcare e-Business Collaborative, 70 to 80 percent of all product transaction errors are directly related to inaccurate product information. Another study, by Concepts in Healthcare, found that more than 24 percent of time spent by supply management personnel at hospital and distributor sites is spent correcting non-conformance errors.

“Conducting e-commerce without addressing the industry’s content needs can actually increase supply chain inefficiencies by moving bad data faster,” says MJ Wylie, GHX’s director of content services. “The GHX Content Center is the only service in healthcare today that addresses data accuracy, synchronization, and standards, and both cleanses and corrects product data with the support of the manufacturers.”

At the core of The GHX Content Center is the AllSource™ content repository, the only electronic source in healthcare for product data maintained and verified on an ongoing basis by manufacturers. Hospitals and healthcare systems can use the AllSource repository to cleanse and correct their internal product databases, or item masters, eliminating inaccurate, obsolete and duplicate product information. The process also enables healthcare systems to consolidate multiple item masters into a central database.

John Cashmore, materials management director at Rush Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, Ill., says item master cleansing is key: “If your data is wrong, it ruins the whole transaction” says Cashmore. “Clean data can reduce labor costs, extend the life of your materials management information system (MMIS) and drive efficiencies in the supply chain.”

In addition to providing an initial item master cleansing, which prepares a healthcare provider for e-commerce, The Content Center helps maintain that accuracy with products such as GHX Content Intelligence™. Created by GHX, this “smart” technology identifies and corrects product data errors in purchase orders, keeping the transaction moving through the process and taking steps to resolve similar inaccuracies in the future. By notifying providers of the inaccuracies and changes made, they can keep their item masters up to date. Suppliers, in turn, benefit from a reduction in the number of purchase orders that require manual intervention to correct inaccurate product data.

GHX has also adopted the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC), which is quickly becoming the industry-standard taxonomy for healthcare, as the primary means for classifying products in the AllSource content repository. This hierarchical system, combined with a process of standardizing product descriptions based on clinical usage, makes it easier for providers to identify specific products. With both clinical and content expertise, The Content Center’s consultants can help providers normalize their product descriptions, while gathering additional data from suppliers, such as translations for obsolete product data, to cleanse and correct a wide variety of product data.

With more than 1500 hospitals and 100 suppliers using the AllSource repository to conduct business electronically with one another, GHX has achieved the critical mass of participation necessary to facilitate adoption and widespread usage of industry product standards in healthcare, including universal product numbers, healthcare identification numbers and taxonomy systems.

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 Systems Inc.; 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.