News | April 24, 2008

GHXcellence Awards Honor Healthcare Providers And Suppliers For Achievements In Supply Chain Performance

GHX honored 14 healthcare provider and supplier organizations with its GHXcellence Awards for achievements in improving supply chain performance. The awards were presented on Friday, April 18, 2008 during a recognition ceremony in Chicago at the 8th Annual GHX Supply Chain Summit, the largest healthcare forum in the U.S. focused on both the buy and sell side of the supply chain.

The theme of this year's awards was improved utilization of e-commerce solutions to drive growth and maximize savings. The awards are granted to those organizations that best met specific criteria during the 2007 calendar year, including:

  • Increased use of e-commerce solutions throughout the healthcare supply chain
  • The number of trading partners with whom they conduct e-commerce
  • The percentage of orders transacted electronically
  • The percentage of invoices transacted electronically
  • Reduction in order and invoice discrepancies and errors The GHXcellence Award recipients are:
  • Healthcare Provider of the Year (U.S.): Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Wash.
  • Healthcare Provider of the Year (Canada): Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec
  • Most Improved Healthcare Provider (Purchase Order Growth): Palmetto Health Alliance, Columbia, S.C.
  • Most Improved Healthcare Provider (Invoice Growth): Scottsdale Health Care, Scottsdale, Ariz.
  • MyExchange Order Center Usage* (Provider): Caritas Christi Health Care, Boston, Mass.
  • Best 50 IDN : St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center, Syracuse, N.Y., and Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Wash.
  • Healthcare Supplier of the Year (U.S.): Boston Scientific, Natick, Mass. and Covidien, Mansfield, Mass.
  • Healthcare Supplier of the Year (Canada): Johnson & Johnson Medical Products, Markham, Ontario
  • Distributor of the Year: Professional Hospital Supply, Temecula, Calif. Use of technology for order exception management Integrated delivery networks with the lowest purchase order exception rates

GHX presented an additional award to a healthcare supplier that demonstrated strong adoption and usage of mobile solutions to automate field sales processes and improve efficiencies in order and inventory management. This year's winner was Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics of Memphis, Tenn. More than 700 of the company's sales representatives use mobile applications on handheld devices to collect and process more than 90 percent of all product orders.

This year, GHX also honored two providers with Most Innovative Provider awards for innovation in their implementation of e-commerce solutions.

St. Joseph's Health System of Orange, Calif., was honored for business process improvements made across the organization to automate the supply chain. The health system significantly increased its number of electronic trading partners, improved contract compliance by implementing a contract review process, and reduced order and invoice errors by standardizing on one item master across all 13 hospitals.

Sisters of Mercy of St. Louis was honored for its innovative use of technology to improve data management, orders and supply chain processes. The hospital improved data accuracy by utilizing technology to further synchronize its item master with vendors' product catalogs; reduced order and invoicing errors by reconciling purchasing information within its e-commerce systems and materials management information system (MMIS); implemented a vendor managed inventory program; and enhanced contract compliance by updating contract prices within its MMIS on a daily basis.

"This year's GHXcellence Awards honor providers and suppliers that have taken steps to maximize utilization of e-commerce solutions across their organizations," said GHX President Bruce Johnson. "By optimizing business processes and the use of technology, they are demonstrating how healthcare organizations can lower costs and improve operational performance."

About GHX
GHX enables healthcare providers and suppliers in North America and Europe to reduce costs and improve margins by automating processes, reducing operating expenses and increasing knowledge-based decision making. Products and services include trading partner connectivity, order and contract management and validation, data synchronization, sales force automation and business intelligence. Equity owners of GHX are Abbott Exchange, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; B Braun Medical Inc.; Becton, Dickinson & Co.; Boston Scientific Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Covidien; C.R. Bard, Inc.; Fisher Scientific International, Inc.; GE Healthcare; HCA; Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.; McKesson Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Owens & Minor; Premier, Inc.; Siemens; University HealthSystem Consortium; and VHA Inc. For more information, visit www.ghx.com

SOURCE: GHX