Now is the Time to Prove the Value of GS1 Standards in Healthcare

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

For many years, the North American healthcare industry has explored the potential advantages of standardizing product and location data using GS1 standards. The general consensus is that data standardization and synchronization can improve clinical and operational performance, but with the exception of a few brave leaders like members of the Healthcare Transformation Group and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System in the U.S., very few organizations have carried out standards implementation to a point where they have been able to document both results and the pathway to achieve them.

Keep Dreaming: The Future of the Medical Device Supply Chain

• Karen Conway, Vice President, Healthcare Value

Strategies for cleaning up item masters, maintaining integrity over time through data synchronization and automation. Recently, I have been speaking with hospital supply chain executives about the Accountable Supply Chain Leader. What kinds of skills and leadership traits are needed to lead supply chain in a value-based world and what kinds of skills and traits should you look for in your team? I close the presentation with a quote from 19th Century English mathematician and author Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass.

"Why, sometimes I have dreamed six impossible things before breakfast!"

UDI: Lessons Learned on the Journey to Compliance

• Michael Gillespie, Executive Director, North Americas Consulting

Two years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its Unique Device Identification (UDI) final regulations. That’s the rule that requires manufacturers to assign and label their products with UDI-compliant codes and, significantly, to publish data attributes about those products to the Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID). The goal: to improve patient safety. The how: by reducing the incidents of injury and death that can result from the misidentification of medical devices. The when: to be fully implemented by September 2018. The reality: the journey is a winding road!

The Top Five Ways the Healthcare Supply Chain is Improving Patient Care Today (Pt. 2)

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

As we come to the end of another National Healthcare Supply Chain Week, I want to share two more ways that GHX customers are using their supply chains to significantly improve patient outcomes. On Wednesday, I delved into the use of outcomes data, the creation of clinical/supply chain teams and the expansion of the supply chain outside the four walls of the hospital. Today’s themes touch on and leverage some of the most highly anticipated and buzzed-about technologies.

The Top Five Ways the Healthcare Supply Chain is Improving Patient Care Today (Pt. 1)

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

As I noted in my Monday blog post, this week is AHRMM’s National Healthcare Supply Chain Week. To honor this annual event, my team at GHX compiled the five biggest ways that healthcare organizations are leveraging their supply chains to improve patient outcomes on a daily basis. We are not exaggerating when we describe these projects as “revolutionary” for the healthcare industry. Rather than “talking the talk,” these organizations are “walking the walk” to create a more efficient and cost-effective healthcare system. Today I’m going to share the first three ways we see our customers doing just that:

Honoring Supply Chain Professionals in the New Age of Healthcare

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

This week is the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management’s (AHRMM) National Healthcare Supply Chain Week. Every year, AHRMM leads the industry in recognizing supply chain professionals that are instrumental in not only taking cost and waste out of healthcare, but also directly impacting patient care for the better. We congratulate AHRMM for putting the spotlight on the value of the supply chain in improving cost, quality and outcomes as exemplified by its CQO Movement.

Imagine (Sometimes it takes a Supply Chain Brain)

• Karen Conway, Vice President, Healthcare Value

Imagine. Later today, Lora Cecere’s Global Summit kicks off in Phoenix. This is the flag ship program for Supply Chain Insights (the analyst firm run by Lora Cecere) and it is absolutely a team effort, with lots of work by those who work for and with Lora. But I purposefully called it Lora Cecere’s Global Summit, because it is Lora’s unending energy and passion around supply chain that makes this event unique among the growing number of supply chain events being held around the globe.

It’s Time to Clean Up Your Data Act

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

Inaccurate data is limiting organizations from realizing the game-changing power big data can bring to healthcare. Clinical and financial benefits are within reach, but bad or “dirty” data continues to be the Achilles heel of actionable information in healthcare.

The Emergence of Just-in-Time Buying

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

If you’re a reader of healthcare trades, you’ve likely seen the emergence of the acronym: JIT. This stands for “just-in-time” and it refers to just-in-time purchasing (as well as JIT buying or JIT inventory management) of products to keep supplies lean and costs low. As hospitals are challenged to reduce costs while dealing with major cuts in reimbursements, many of them are exploring JIT with keen interest. 

Why Should You Automate the Implant Case-to-Cash Process?

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

Did you know that inefficient, manual processes and lost, wasted and expired products result in $5 billion in loss each year for healthcare? Providers and suppliers are losing significant money due to poor management of implantable devices. In the age of healthcare reform – where everyone is under intense pressure to reduce costs – waste like this simply can’t continue. 

A Lot Going on at GHX!

• Scott Kelley, Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing

To say last week was busy for GHX would be an understatement! GHX joined its customers in Phoenix for the annual GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit. The three-day event was packed with informative sessions, workshops and stellar speakers from some of the world’s most innovative and forward-thinking healthcare providers and suppliers. 

Electrifying the NHS!

In May 2014, the UK Department of Health published the NHS eProcurement Strategy. This comes nine months after the Department published Better Procurement, Better Value, Better Care, and which we wrote about here. The lead author, Mr Steve Graham, will be speaking at this year’s GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit on the NHS eProcurement Strategy and the drivers behind this policy. Many of the topics he will address are relevant to supply chain leaders in the U.S., Canada and across the globe.

Looking into the Crystal Ball: The Future Healthcare Supply Chain

• Bruce Johnson, Executive Chairman

During the past two months, the team at GHX conducted numerous interviews with some of our most forward-thinking provider and supplier customers. The topic of these interviews was the “Supply Chain of the Future.” We weren’t talking “future” in the sense of a year or two out, but rather 10-to-20 years in the future – when the healthcare industry will look very different than it does today.