Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) today announced the release of a new version of its NuVia content management solution that integrates data from the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). With this release, GHX offers a leading-edge solution that helps enable healthcare providers to access relevant product data in the GDSN in a format that can be consumed by their supply chain systems. The new version of NuVia can help providers take advantage of the growing availability of standardized product data to help improve quality and lower costs.
The product data available in NuVia now includes GS1 Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) for product identification, packaging level data, and other relevant information about the products providers purchase and use in patient care. This GHX product release will help accelerate the ability of hospitals and healthcare systems to take advantage of the growing number of medical devices bearing unique device identifiers (UDI). The GTIN is a UDI-compliant code.
With the new release of NuVia, GHX, which provides a GDSN-certified data pool, is able to take large quantities of data from the GDSN, extract the key elements relevant to healthcare providers, and process the data in a manner that can be matched to a provider’s item master and purchase order history. Providers will easily be able to download this information from NuVia and integrate it into their respective materials management information systems, opening the door to an efficient way to better take advantage of global data standards, including UDI.
“Organizations like the Healthcare Transformation Group and AHRMM have long promoted the value of GTINs to improve supply chain efficiencies and visibility, while the FDA has passed the UDI rule to improve patient safety,” said Tina Murphy, senior vice president, Global Product & Corporate Development, GHX. “To realize these benefits, providers must be able to easily incorporate standards into their systems and business processes. With this new release, GHX continues to expand its ability to help both the healthcare industry achieve the full potential of standards, while also preparing to meet current and future regulatory demands.”
The FDA considers provider use of UDI data critical to achieving the value of UDI, which includes better data on post market device performance. Under the UDI rule, manufacturers are required to label their products with UDI compliant codes and publish data on those products to the FDA’s Global UDI Database (GUDID). As part of conforming amendments to the UDI rule, providers are currently required to use the UDI in adverse event reports involving serious injury or death. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have proposed new regulations that would require providers to hold a list of a patient’s implantable devices in their electronic health record (EHR) and exchange that data as part of a patient’s core medical history, among other things.
NuVia is currently deployed across a growing network of provider organizations in the GHX Global Network and serves as a cloud-based virtual item master. NuVia continually monitors an organization’s item master for changes and updates, and then allows the user to approve updates or changes to product data inaccuracies, removing duplicates and infilling missing information, such as manufacturer item numbers and units of measure (UOM), to help reduce transaction errors.
“The item master has been described as the center of a healthcare organization’s universe because its content can serve as a source of truth for not only supply chain processes but also a broad range of clinical and financial functions as well, including electronic health records (EHRs), patient billing, recall tracking, value analysis activities and comparative effectiveness research,” added Murphy. “Easier access to the GDSN data not only strengthens the ability for providers to better manage their data, but glean critically important information that may improve patient care.”
Product Availability and ARHMM Demonstration
The new release is available now and providers can get a first look at the new GDSN-enable NuVia release in the GHX booth (#811) at the upcoming ARHMM15 Conference and Exhibition in Indianapolis, August 9-12, 2015. Product demonstrations and learning labs on NuVia are scheduled in the GHX booth throughout the ARHMM15 Conference.
About GHX
Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) drives costs out of healthcare with cloud-based supply chain management technology and services in order to help enable better patient care and savings by maximizing automation, efficiency, and accuracy of business processes. GHX offers healthcare providers and suppliers an open and neutral electronic trading exchange that delivers procurement and accounts payable automation, contract and inventory management, vendor credentialing and management, business intelligence, and other supply chain-related tools and services. For more information, visit www.ghx.com and The Healthcare Hub.