Healthcare Matters

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals Honor Roll for 2012-2013 provides the public with a snapshot into the most progressive and effective hospitals in the country.  GHX, the industry’s largest supply chain technology provider, processing more than $50 billion per year in purchasing transactions through the GHX Global Network, works with 16 out of 17 hospitals honored. Not only do these organizations demonstrate excellence in patient care, but they also illustrate savvy innovation with their healthcare supply chains – a critical and often-overlooked component for lowering costs and improving patient care.

The healthcare industry is at a crossroads. Closely watched by the government, regulatory bodies and the general public, healthcare organizations are under the gun to significantly reduce the cost of healthcare, while increasing the quality of patient care. Many of the country’s leading health organizations have looked internally to their supply chains to make this a reality. While supply chain is the second largest and fastest growing cost for providers today, it is also a strategic asset that can help healthcare trading partners meet operational, clinical and financial goals.

GHX announced in February 2012 that the company is developing the industry’s first comprehensive supply chain solution for physician preference items (PPI) and implantable medical devices. Like other GHX solutions, its implantable device supply chain solution will allow providers and manufacturers to jointly automate shared business processes and collaborate on a higher plane.  That can happen when members have confidence that the business basics –the transactional level details– are covered.

It is noteworthy that GHX not only counts most of the top US hospital systems, suppliers and GPOs as customers committed to the business practices and industry standards that define its exchange, but as we know, roughly 80% of the entire provider market use one or more of its supply chain solutions.

That kind of scale is compelling. And because the company has been grinding it out for more than a decade, it’s success is well deserved.

—Tom Finn