Covid-19

Serving our customers during the pandemic

During the pandemic, GHX observed and helped pioneer a range of best practice advance preparation strategies for healthcare supply chain teams, making available tools and resources to help the industry meet evolving and urgent needs for supplies and safer facility access to navigate this unprecedented health crisis.

Critical Supply Reference List

As inventory availability became limited for specific medical product categories, health systems urgently needed to find alternative sources. In response, GHX offered complimentary access to evidence-based research on drugs and devices, including a quick reference list of COVID-19– related supplies with potential shortages.

Product Innovation

As the pandemic endured, GHX focused on innovation, looking to harness the power of data and automation to streamline healthcare operations. This was particularly important, given the growth of remote working, which is particularly challenging in industries such as healthcare, where the administrative burden is high and many operations were still handled manually.

Necessary pandemic restrictions such as temperature checks and visitor vaccination status introduced new complications for hospitals trying to manage facility access. In response, GHX developed three important solutions for vendor and visitor management to improve facility safety and security for staff, patients, vendors and visitors.

Contactless temperature checkpoint: The GHX Vendormate team developed a new kiosk feature to assist hospitals with screening the body temperature of vendor representatives and obtaining wellness declarations before they accessed the facility. At the time of this release, it helped providers manage new and evolving compliance requirements for vendor representatives entering the hospital.

GHX Vaccine Manager: Vendormate also launched a digital solution to help healthcare organizations capture, review and report vaccination information. Leveraging the same tools, expertise and processes, Vaccine Manager helped healthcare organizations streamline compliance with vaccine reporting mandates across employees, contractors and volunteers, and create safer environments for patients, visitors and staff.

Digital visitor management: Vendormate Kiosk’s Visitor Management capabilities allowed for faster, more efficient contact-free check-in. Using Barcode technology, the kiosk could scan visitor driver’s license for fast check-in and complete photo ID badging via an integrated camera. Additional visitor dashboard and management capabilities supported visitor watch lists and alerts, as well as detailed reporting.

"As a result of the pandemic, health protections, such as vaccine mandates, are now among the proactive measures necessary to help maintain a safe facility. But already- overtaxed healthcare organizations need tools that simplify compliance so staff can focus on what matters most: patient care," said Chrystie Leonard, general manager, GHX Vendormate.

COVID-19 Resource Library

As cases of COVID-19 steadily rose across the U.S., health systems were pressed to cope with a host of new challenges. In response, GHX launched the COVID-19 Information Center to help organizations access the data and information needed to help serve patients and protect staff.

“As the leading convener of providers and suppliers, GHX is in a unique position to help healthcare organizations keep pace with heightened demands during this critically imperative time,” said Bruce Johnson, former GHX president & CEO. “Our team mobilized to create a detailed resource center to answer the call for timely, accurate information and actionable tools. We believe knowledge-sharing and open access to data will be key elements in managing through this crisis.”

Supporting GHX employees during the pandemic

The people at GHX were central to the company’s efforts for the industry at large. To support employees and ensure continuity of service as well as essential product innovation, GHX implemented a remote work policy and provided additional resources for mental health and wellness.

How GHX responded to COVID-19 to support health systems

Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), a healthcare supply chain management company, engaged a range of actions to support its customers and the healthcare industry, while protecting its staff, amid the COVID-19 outbreak.