Consistency in driving automation from purchase order through invoice has allowed Loma Linda University Health to establish a culture of clean item data, resulting in a 99.4% electronic invoice utilization rate, 98% perfect order rate and 0.44%-unit price exception rate in 2023.

A key driver behind this high performance is optimized use of GHX solutions across the health system’s data, purchasing and supplier relations teams, including utilization of punchout and light out functionality in conjunction with the GHX MetaTrade solution. In addition to the unit price exception performance, Loma Linda University Health also maintained strong performance across the other exceptions as well, including:

• 0.16% item number exception rate
• 0.17% unit of measure exception rate
• 0.42% rejection exception rate
• 0.40% quantity exception rate

With a 97.5% perfect order rate and an overall 2.1% exception rate for the full year of 2023, Children’s of Alabama takes pride in its efforts to achieve operational excellence and improve patient experience and outcomes.

With a focus on continuous data improvement, the team has reduced an already low price exception rate by 50% to below 1% for 2023 and achieved a 60% reduction in part number exceptions during the same timeframe. This allowed them to fully leverage the eInvoicing Advanced platform for rapid invoice approval and payment processing that also led to gains in rebates provided through the ePay program.

Children’s of Alabama is currently engaged in Consignment/Bill-Only EDI Certification for their Infor Cloud Suite implementation. They are also capitalizing on new automation opportunities with the eInvoicing Advanced process and platform.

The Southwest General Health Center team is committed to driving best-in-class efficiencies and is a consistent top performer, having been listed in the GHX Best 50 multiple times over the past 10 years. Their dedication to teamwork, resiliency and optimized utilization of GHX solutions has driven their success in supply chain process automation. The keys to Southwest General Health Center’s success in 2023 were:

• Prioritizing their exception management practices by creating daily and weekly “best practice” tasks to manage exceptions proactively, resulting in a high perfect order rate.
• Managing price exceptions and off contract purchases through the GHX CCXpert solution. This visibility supports price exception reduction, resulting in high contract validation rates.
• Consistently leveraging available transaction type automation to drive efficiencies and centralize where supply chain teams can access the most up to date information on critical medical supplies.

Consistency and continuous improvement have propelled the TransForm Shared Services Organization to win its 7th Canadian Provider of the Year Award.

The organization has optimized procure-to-pay processes with a focus on active exception management, improved contract data quality and completeness, and maximized automation by working with suppliers to expedite POAs and transact electronic invoices with suppliers that are EDI 810-capable.

Key achievements include:

• 90.77% overall perfect order rate
• 60%+ contract utilization rate
• 30% year-over-year improvement of overall order exceptions

Additionally, the TransForm Shared Services Organization has collaborated with other Ontario hospitals to launch the Ontario eHub Health Information Exchange (HIE). HIE enhances patient care by enabling clinicians across the province to organize, share, review and search for patient health information more quickly and easily.

An unwavering dedication to exceptional customer service and support drives the Stryker team to continuously advance its supply chain operational performance. In 2023, Stryker established a Customer Success team to enhance the customer experience and make it easier and more efficient to transact business with the company. The team is also actively partnering with customers to evaluate and cleanse item master data and enhance price catalog availability to deliver value through exception reduction. This dedicated Stryker team is also partnering with customers to clean up item master data and make price catalogs available to help drive down exceptions.

Key achievements in 2023 include:

• 17% increase in invoice automation
• 12% more touchless orders driven by business rule optimization
• 45% increase in advanced shipping notices (ASN) with a focus on increasing shipment availability

The Aspen Surgical team consistently leverages automation to support a positive customer experience even in times of change. This is evidenced by their significant growth in automated volume during a large acquisition in 2023.

Key achievements include:

• 31% growth in integrated PO volume compared to 2022
• 3,973 integrated trading partners on the Exchange
• 10% increase in automation of fax/email orders
• 12% reduction in exceptions, with the largest decrease in the backorder category

Through the efforts of the entire team, Johnson & Johnson MedTech achieved significant growth in automated volume in 2023, with best-in-class exception and touchless order rates. Never content with the status quo, the team is always seeking new opportunities to leverage automation to improve customer experience.

The below accomplishments directly impacted their 2023 success:

• 18% growth in integrated PO volume compared with 2022
• 11% increase in email and fax order automation
• Triple digital growth in price/sales catalog (EDI 832) transactions

Through a collaborative effort among MultiCare Health System’s supply chain team, MultiCare’s Global Outreach Program led by Linh Libuit, and the nonprofit Greater Outreach Medical Education and Destinations, free lifesaving surgery was provided to 57 uninsured, low income, working-class individuals living in the resourcescarce, rural neighborhoods of Trujillo, Peru. This region has one of the lowest physician-to-patient ratios – approximately 0.8 doctors to 1,000 people.

To support the supply needs of the two-week surgical trip, MultiCare’s AVP of Supply Chain Andy Hamilton partnered with the health system’s Global Outreach Program to source over $40k donated medical supplies from strategic suppliers. MultiCare employees who served as volunteers during the trip shared stories of patients who had waited years for surgery and traveled long distances to receive surgical care, recounting how patients expressed profound gratitude for the life changing medical interventions.

MultiCare’s AVP of Supply Chain Andy Hamilton is recognized as the key contributor for this award.

A collaborative effort to enhance cash cart (CC) tray management throughout UTMC has not only improved staff satisfaction and patient safety but also generated an estimated $250k in savings annually. This includes $245k+ nursing and logistical staff labor hours saved and nearly $9k in savings from CC standardization and removal of unnecessary supplies.

UTMC’s previous CC tray management processes were labor intensive, requiring extensive time and resources from the clinical and logistics teams to build the trays, verify the contents, replenish depleted items, and monitor expiration dates. UTMC Assistant Director of Logistics Operations Franklin Lopez performed a cost-to-benefits analysis of the current process versus outsourcing, proposed a solution and gained buy-in from clinical stakeholders.

Today, vendor-built CC trays with unique device identification (UDI) barcodes are delivered to UTMC where staff employ barcode scanning to rapidly identify and track each tray, arrange for timely exchange of used trays and/or upcoming expired trays, and manage recalled items. After tray usage, a logistics coordinator records which items were used, with the UTMC Code Blue Committee using this information to make evidence-based decisions on tray contents.

UTMC Assistant Director of Logistics Operations Franklin Lopez is recognized as a key contributor for this award.

Recognizing how individuals suffering from addiction have long battled shame, stigma and isolation, Corewell Health has opened eight nurse-led addiction clinics with same-day walk-in services for adolescent and adult populations. In partnership with the State of Michigan and other established agencies, clinic staff provide education, training, and easy access to care.

The Corewell Health supply chain has been instrumental in supporting the clinics, leveraging GHX Lumere and collaborating with the health system’s value analysis team to procure the necessary specialty medications needed to address high risk substance use. They have worked with the State of Michigan to maintain a steady supply of Narcan into communities served by the clinics and now stock and supply over 50 Narcan distribution boxes across the state.

The number of individuals treated by the clinics has steadily grown year-over-year; already nearing 1,000 patients in the first two months of 2024. Through this program and its partners, one community reported over 150 overdose reversals in 2023. In 2024, Corewell Health is opening two additional clinics and launching a telehealth program to meet individuals suffering from addiction in their homes, communities, and comfort spaces.

Corewell Health Dependent Drug Stewardship Program Operations Manager Cecily Heaton is recognized as a key contributor for this award.

In 2022, MRHC, under the leadership of Executive Director of Finance Haven Caldwell, committed to enroll all eligible vendors in electronic invoice delivery (EDI 810) through the GHX ePay solution. The shift from manual, paper-based invoice receipt and handling to automated and electronic processing helps expedite supplier payments, which in turns allows MRHC to generate greater rebate savings.

As a result of this work, MRHC, a 200-bed acute care community hospital owned jointly by the City of Corinth and Alcorn County, Miss., captured $18k in rebates on supplier payments issued between October 2022 – September 2023. The health center has also achieved a 90% best in class ePay compliance rate.

The collaborative relationship between MRHC and GHX has been imperative to this success. Working together to optimize utilization of the ePay solution and maximize rebates, MRHC grew its ePay vendor network from 10 suppliers in 2022 to 22 in 2023, which represents a 35% year-over-year increase in total spend transacted through the solution.

MRHC Executive Director of Finance Haven Caldwell is recognized as a key contributor for this award.

In January 2023, VCU Health formed an executive supply chain committee and formal process for high-dollar product cost increases and policy updates based on a system-wide mandate for cost savings. Supply Chain AVP Josh Plauny, with the support of VCU Health President Dr. Levy, met with the health system’s 18 department chairpersons to develop a clinically driven approach to savings and product/ vendor standardization.

Plauny categorized physician preference item (PPI) spend data from VCU Health’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to match up with service lines led by each chairperson and benchmarked it using GHX Lumere and ECRI. Each chairperson tailored the strategy, settling on the best-in-class top 10% price index to negotiate with suppliers. Data-driven sourcing decisions have generated significant savings while improving patient care. Results include:

• $1.5M trauma savings, led by the chair of orthopedics
• $825k spine savings, led by the chair of orthopedics and a top spine surgeon
• $1.2M CRM device savings, led by the EP and Cath Lab physicians
• $1M hemostatic agent savings, led by the chair of surgery

VCU Health Supply Chain AVP Josh Plauny is recognized as the key contributor for this award.

To prioritize the safety and security of patients, visitors and employees of its provider customers, Smith+Nephew engaged with the GHX Credentialing Managed Services team to establish a compliant salesforce with processes in place to effectively adapt to evolving healthcare industry requirements and expectations.

During the first six months of the engagement, they uploaded nearly 800 new documents on behalf of Smith+Nephew’s rep population, reducing rejected badgeins due to non-compliance by 22%. This represents 750 more appointments reps successfully completed with their provider customers during this time frame.

The Smith+Nephew and GHX Credentialing Managed Services teams have also collaborated to establish consistent rep credentialing and compliance processes; one for full time employees and another for contracted employees. This distinction is incredibly important in ensuring reps are easily identifiable to provider customers and are appropriately representing themselves and Smith+Nephew. Additionally, they have updated all rep emails to one consistent format to make them more easily verifiable by customers.

Smith+Nephew HR Service Development Manager and Service Performance & Quality Monica Rodriguez is recognized as a key contributor for this award.

Frido Pagan is a true healthcare supply chain leader with a deep respect and passion for the industry and profession.

With an innate ability to balance leadership with relatability, Pagan truly listens to understand. When joining Eskenazi Health, he took the time to speak one-on-one with over 150 individuals to understand their current state, what was going well, and what needed work.

Always with a strategic plan in place and long-term goals to achieve, Pagan elevates his team members to new levels, supporting them in reaching their full potential. When things don’t go as planned, he maintains a “how do we get to yes” attitude, finding ways to overcome temporary roadblocks.

Pagan excels in putting the people puzzle together: assembling cross-functional teams and equipping them with the tools they need to collaboratively drive efficiency and savings while successfully serving clinicians and their patients. Although he is not one to stand in the spotlight or receive praise for his work, Pagan is extremely deserving of the GHXcellence Supply Chain Leadership Award given the many lives he has touched through his work in healthcare supply chain.

Nattie Leger is a leader who demonstrates tenacity, fortitude, and cross-functional collaboration in service of Ochner’s caregivers and patients. While Leger’s efforts have covered a wide range of initiatives, a recent high priority, rapid conversion project illustrates her “heroic” leadership.

In 2023, Ochsner was faced with daily inventory gaps, shortage concerns and product utilization variation with IV fluids and IV secondary tubing. Its legacy vendor offered DEHP-free products while the competitive products contained DEHP.

Switching to the competitive products could require nursing workflow changes, the need to leverage additional suppliers for DEHP-free products, and most importantly, clinician agreement that these changes would not be detrimental to patient care.

Working collaboratively with a cross-functional team, Leger crafted a recommendation to change Ochsner’s primary IV fluid and tubing supplier, leverage secondary suppliers to provide additional DEHP-free products, and gain clinician consensus on how to minimize use of DEHP products in the pediatric service line. She secured signoff from a multitude of disciplines, including physician, nursing and pharmacy senior leadership.

The results of this project include a fulfillment rate increase for IV fluid and tubing from 76% to 94% and $686,000 in supply standardization savings.