ITASCA, Ill. and WESTMINSTER, Colo. – October 20, 2003 – Office products distributor BOISE® Office Solutions has joined with Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) to further streamline the procurement process and lower costs for customers. Nationally recognized for its customer service and information technology initiatives, Boise Office Solutions will integrate to GHX’s trading exchange, enabling it to connect to and conduct business electronically with more than 1,500 U.S. hospitals. By using GHX’s supply chain services, Boise Office Solutions and its customers can improve transaction quality and processing time, while healthcare providers can increase the types of products purchased and the percentage of their overall purchasing using the exchange. Boise Office Solutions, a premier multinational distributor of office supplies, technology, furniture and paper, has been ranked among the top 5 percent of all organizations for customer satisfaction by the Service Quality Measurement Group and honored for maximizing use of its information technology resources by CIO magazine.
"The healthcare industry is an important component of our market, and joining GHX marks another enhancement in our efforts to reduce procurement costs for our customers,” says Chris Milliken, president and chief executive officer of Boise Office Solutions. “Many of the hospitals that purchase products from Boise Office Solutions requested that we join the exchange, and after researching what GHX has to offer, we recognized the important role it plays in making the healthcare supply chain more efficient.”
In addition to making it possible for healthcare buyers and sellers to conduct business electronically with multiple trading partners through a single Internet connection, GHX improves supply chain efficiencies by automating manual processes and reducing purchase order errors associated with lack of buyer and seller product data synchronization. Suppliers such as Boise Office Solutions publish and verify product data in GHX’s AllSource™ content repository, and healthcare purchasers can use services from The GHX Content Center to ensure that their product data matches that of suppliers. GHX’s Report Source tool identifies pricing discrepancies, while providing healthcare buyers with real time status of their orders and summaries of their purchasing history.
“We are proud to partner with Boise Office Solutions, which has demonstrated its commitment to improving customer productivity by minimizing time spent on order processing,” says GHX Chief Executive Officer Mike Mahoney. “GHX’s services are a perfect complement to Boise Office Solutions’ customer service initiatives. We look forward to working together to further enable healthcare buyers to devote more time to work that delivers real value and less on the clerical aspects of the purchasing process.” Boise Office Solutions joins more than 200 suppliers who are currently participating in GHX.
About Boise Office Solutions
Boise Office Solutions is a premier multinational distributor of office and technology products, office furniture and paper, with annual sales totaling $3.5 billion. Boise Office Solutions reached domestic e-commerce sales of more than $1 billion in 2002. The company, headquartered in Itasca, Ill., has customers ranging in size from small organizations to multinational corporations. Boise Office Solutions has operations throughout the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico. Boise Office Solutions is recognized for its outstanding commitment to customer service and is the recipient of Gartner Inc.'s inaugural CRM Excellence Award. Boise Office Solutions has demonstrated leadership in supporting minority- and women-owned business development since 1972. For more information, visit www.BoiseOffice.com . Boise Office Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boise Cascade Corporation (NYSE: BCC). Boise delivers office, building, and paper solutions that help our customers manage productive offices and construct well-built homes -- two of the most important activities in our society. Boise's 24,000 employees help people work more efficiently, build more effectively, and create new ways to meet business challenges. Boise also provides constructive solutions for environmental conservation by managing natural resources for the benefit of future generations. Boise had sales of $7.4 billion in 2002.
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. The GHX Content Center improves 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 manufacturers 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.