Dena Jackson, Director of Supply Chain at Anne Arundel Medical Center, talks about lessons learned and results her team achieved working with GHX to automate contracting and purchasing and increase EDI utilization, including lowering their contract price exception rate from 10.1% to 1.2% in just six months.

Derek Smith, Derek Smith, Chief Commercial Officer at GHX, was named one of Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine’s 2013 Provider Pros to Know for his role in driving the development of software solutions that create a more connected, efficient and streamlined supply chain infrastructure for the healthcare industry.

In this Q&A, Karen Conway talks about the Food and Drug Administration's proposal to create a unique device identification (UDI) system for medical devices, which will impact both suppliers and providers.

New medical device labeling designed to make tracking products through the supply chain easier is coming to the United States in the next year or so, but it's also poised for adoption in Europe and elsewhere. And the global spread of the system could help clinicians better understand what happens to devices after they hit the market.

GHX Industry Relations Director Karen Conway talks to leaders at Cook Medical and Intermountain Healthcare, two leaders in global data standards enablement. They explore the collaborative relationship between the two, their mutual support for global data standards adoption in healthcare, and the benefits they have achieved from product data standardization.

Karen Conway, Industry Relations Director at GHX, shares the story of how one provider successfully implemented standards within its organization. Denver Health's Stewart Layhe, supply chain project manager, and Philip Pettigrew, director of materials management, talk about how they sold their C-suite on global data standards and share lessons learned in the process.

GHX Industry Relations Director Karen Conway and experts from VUEMED and AdvanTech discuss why clinical supply documentation at the point of care is essential for ensuring accurate charge capture, waste prevention, efficient supply chain processes and high quality of patient care.

The healthcare market remains a precarious place to do business, said GHX CEO Bruce Johnson. “What’s at risk,” said Johnson, “is the entire healthcare system, which spans not only traditional care organizations in the U.S., but also the huge U.S. base of global manufacturers.”

GHX recently tested its track-and-trace technology in a pilot with Abbot Laboratories, McKesson and the Veterans Health Administration. Margot Drees is Executive Director of Global Strategy with GHX. She told MedCity News that the pilot would evaluate two things: how onerous would it be to implement a track-and-trace system industry-wide and is it doable? The pilot is testing the ability to scan serial numbers to identify a product that was recalled mid-shipment. The first part used one product line and was deemed successful, but the next phase will add another layer of complexity by using a mixed batch of products.

In an article on page 70, GHX industry relations director Karen Conway examines some of the topics discussed at September's UDI Conference in Orlando, FL, including the proposed timeline, covered products and aspects of the proposed rule that may be new even to those who have been following UDI closely.