Healthcare Providers

Highmark’s New SCM Entity –ProtoCo to be Full Service GPO

by Tom May 7, 2012 General News and Commentary

Offering further evidence of the seriousness of its mission to build an integrated healthcare delivery system, Highmark, Pennsylvania’s largest health insurance company, launched a new supply chain management company, called ProtoCo. The company will operate under the direction of Bill O’Connor, who will report to John Paul, Highmark’s leader of provider services. There’s a nice [...]

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HSCA Keeping the FEDs Happy

by Tom May 4, 2012 General News and Commentary

The congressional hearings of 2004 served as a wake up call –if not a warning— to the entire GPO industry. Its business model was on the line. “Fire in the paint locker” is the expression that comes to mind. With no appetite for the increased levels of federal oversight being debated, the GPOs collectively took [...]

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Cease Fire in Pittsburgh: UPMC and West Penn Take a Breather

by Tom May 3, 2012 government policy

Editors Note: This is a fifth installment in a series of posts covering the ongoing and very public dispute between UPMC, one of the nation’s largest IDNs and Highmark, one of the nation’s larger insurers. Both based in Pittsburgh, they each hold near regional monopolies for their core services.  And that might work if each [...]

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Is the Airline Supply Chain Analogy Relevant to Healthcare?

by Tom May 3, 2012 government policy

It’s not always about “first mover advantage,” sometimes, being the last entrant into a marketplace can be the winning formula. The airline industry provides the quintessential example of what the phrase “last in wins” means in a supply chain management context. Legacy carriers are at an extreme disadvantage when compared to newcomers because they have [...]

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Medical Device Hoarding Syndrome (MDHS)?

by Tom May 1, 2012 Healthcare Providers

Shame on me, I’m not as familiar with MDHS as I probably should be. But when a tight ship like Geisinger Health decides to host a meeting describing how it solved its “hoarding problem” and saved itself a boatload, I decided to pay attention. I’m just hoping the solution won’t involve 12 steps. Someone has [...]

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Getting Serious About Social Media

by Tom May 1, 2012 Healthcare Providers

You say you know what social media is and that you know it works, but can you articulate a coordinated strategy? Having a branded version of your website on Facebook and Twitter feeds are nice, but can you lead a discussion around how your organization can better use social media to enhance brand recognition, drive [...]

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GHX Expands Core Supply Chain Exchange Capabilities

by Tom April 30, 2012 General News and Commentary

On the eve of its Supply Chain Summit being held next week in Orlando (May 7-9), GHX announced enhancements to its core exchange offering. Many of the upgrades are deep architectural re-designs that are being implemented to improve its core system performance (e.g. scale-, speed-, and security-related stuff), but not all. It makes sense. GHX [...]

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Healthcare Blue Book –Essential Guide for your Virtual Glove Box

by Tom April 30, 2012 General News and Commentary

I took a lot of flak for my post last week suggesting that the healthcare industry’s refusal to provide honest and comprehensive consumer pricing information amounts to a self-inflicted wound. So I figured I must have struck a useful nerve. Why in the world a provider in a competitive market wouldn’t seize the opportunity to [...]

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Supply Chain Security –FDA and Big Pharma Not “Getting to We”

by Tom April 26, 2012 government policy

For all the right reasons, security issues with the global pharmaceutical supply chain continue to get a lot of attention. Here at Healthcare Matters, we have posted general information about various illegal schemes used by criminals and specific stories involving counterfeiting –like the recent problem with Avastin.  So it is with some surprise that a [...]

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Accretive Health’s Stock Plummeting

by Tom April 26, 2012 Healthcare Providers

We posted a story yesterday that largely centered on Accretive Health’s alleged illegal debt collection practices and how such behavior is symptomatic of an industry that not only refuses to disclose its costs to patients, but sells its wares at wildly differing price points. Not surprisingly, amidst all the accusations being made, the company’s stock [...]

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