With cases of COVID-19 steadily rising throughout the United States, healthcare organizations are pressed to cope with a host of new challenges. In response, healthcare supply chain technology leader Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) has launched the COVID-19 Information Center to help organizations access the data and information needed to help serve patients and protect staff during the evolving pandemic.
“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, president & CEO, GHX. “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.”
Navigating Supply Shortages and Identifying Alternative Products
With increasingly limited inventory of essential medical products such as personal protective equipment (PPE), GHX has developed a Critical Supply Reference List to help providers identify supplies and potential alternatives, as well as provide suppliers with greater visibility into the fluctuating demand for products. In reference to McKinsey & Company’s report, COVID-19 Crisis: US Healthcare Provider and Payer Preparedness, GHX’s list includes categories such as PPE, Medical Equipment, Disinfection Consumables/Biohazardous Waste Management and Drugs/Medical Consumables and is being continually updated.
Additionally, GHX is offering complimentary access through April 30, 2020 to Lumere’s evidence-based research on drugs and devices, including a quick reference list of COVID-19 related supplies with potential shortages. Lumere is a leading provider of evidence-based data and analytics solutions that enable healthcare organizations to build clinically integrated supply chains and optimize medication formulary management.
Setting up Emergency Overflow Facilities
As healthcare providers move quickly to set up emergency overflow facilities to continue to treat patients in a safe environment, GHX has formulated a process to expedite onboarding for new care sites to the GHX network to help ensure products from suppliers reach the new location quickly. GHX is also processing new facility creation requests after hours and over weekends to minimize delays.
Maintaining Compliance with Vendor Credentialing
To help suppliers comply with greater limitations on hospital access and additional credentialing measures, GHX is closely monitoring changes. A template for hospitals and health systems has been created to aid in the formation of new policies as well as an expedited process for updating existing vendor access policies to help ensure patients, hospital personnel and supplier representatives’ safety.
“GHX is committed to playing a leadership role in healthcare’s response to the COVID-19 crisis by rolling out a variety of resources in the days and weeks ahead, including webinars with key industry associations and provider organizations, online forums to enable our customers to communicate with one another and with our company experts, as well as other educational sessions,” said Johnson.
Companies can subscribe to the GHX COVID-19 Information Center and receive the latest updates by clicking here.
About GHX
Building on decades of collaboration between providers, manufacturers, distributors and other industry stakeholders, Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) is leading the charge in helping organizations run the new business of healthcare. By automating key business processes and translating evidence-based analytics and data into meaningful action, GHX is enabling the healthcare ecosystem to move faster, operate more intelligently and achieve greater outcomes. This approach has resulted in the removal of billions of dollars of wasteful healthcare spend. For more information on GHX’s suite of world-class, cloud-based supply chain and pharmacy solutions, visit www.ghx.com and The Healthcare Hub.