Category Archives: Supply Chain tool vendors
Best of the Healthcare Supply Chain Honored with GHXcellence Awards
Yesterday, GHX today announced the winners of its 13th Annual GHXcellence Awards. The winners were announced yesterday and are being honored at this year’s GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit, currently in progress in Las Vegas. New for this year, GHX honored an individual supply chain leader for work in improving the business of healthcare with its GHXcellence Leadership Award. In early 2013, GHX called on its community to submit nominations for the award and then invited the entire healthcare industry to vote for the winner. This year’s winner is: GHXcellence Leadership Award: Réginé Honoré Villain, corporate director of Supply Chain [...]
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Efficiency vs. Effectiveness: Are We Reaching a Tipping Point?
On my way back from Pittsburgh yesterday, where it actually snowed on Mother’s Day, I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Martyn, BravoSolution’s vp of supply chain strategy and a previous colleague of mine at CombineNet. Naturally, we quickly found ourselves discussing the current “state of the nation” in all matters concerning healthcare supply chain. Whether or not this is a sad commentary on the state of our relationship is a separate topic. Anyway, we actually landed in a few interesting and provocative places –and here’s an example: Raise your hand if your tired of an SCM strategy that [...]
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GHX Announces Industry’s First Implantable Devices SCM Solution –First Looks at This Year’s Supply Chain Summit
GHX today announced the release of Case XpertSM and Order IntelligenceSM, two components of a solution that the company bills as the healthcare industry’s first end-to-end supply chain solution for managing and tracking implantable medical devices –including the physician preference items (PPI) used in the OR. Case Xpert and Order Intelligence are among the first in a series of GHX solutions designed to address the estimated $5 billion in revenue losses currently recorded every year by healthcare providers and manufacturers due to the lack of automation and process efficiency for these devices. Case Xpert captures and shares data from case [...]
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Procurement is a Team Sport –But Measuring Individual Performance is Still Key
Throughout the industry, procurement, sourcing and supply chain management software and services spending continues to grow at an astonishing rate — up by more than 30%. The profession(s) continues to advance by most every measure. And while executive “dashboards” of all types continue to proliferate and keep the C-Suite’s appetite for performance metrics fully satiated, has the procurement profession reached a point where it can be trusted to define those metrics and/or measure the value of its own performance? As procurement becomes increasingly responsible for non-traditional areas of spend, its organizational importance will continue to soar. But cost control is [...]
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Why ACO’s Won’t Fail — A Contrarian View?
Will ACOs succeed? Well, if you put a lot of weight behind what the industry’s “commentariat” are saying, you would be hard pressed to place a positive bet. I recently ran across a post by Les Funtleyder, the managing director of Poliwogg, where he took a contrarian view and gave reasons why ACOs will not fail. Here are some excerpts: When ACOs are touted as a saving grace for the system, you can almost hear the collective groan of the industry veterans. Ever the contrarian, however, we took the side of the debate that said ACOs will NOT fail. The [...]
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Inbound Logistics Reveals Top 100 Logistics SCM Technology Providers
An Inbound Logistics magazine survey of approximately 300 logistics and supply chain technology vendors reveals that supply chain managers have more technology tools and delivery methods at their disposal than ever before, making it vital that they select the right solution and provider for their business logistics needs. The study also identifies a new trend: companies are buying technology through their third-party logistics (3PL) providers, as well as directly from solutions vendors. The new market research shows cloud computing has opened new ways for logistics managers to deploy best-of-breed solutions. Variable cost and deployment models make initial technology investments more [...]
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MHA Acquired by Roper Industries
Managed Health Care Associates, Inc. (“MHA”), a diversified health care services and technology company focused on alternate site providers has been acquired by Roper Industries. MHA provides expertise in Group Purchasing, Managed Care and Payer Contracting, Reimbursement Management, Specialty Pharmacy Solutions, Pharmaceutical Data Analytics, Clinical Pharmacy Software and Legislative Advocacy. Roper Industries is also a well-diversified company and is a constituent of the S&P 500, Fortune 1000, and the Russell 1000 indices. Among other things, Roper provides engineered products and solutions for global niche markets, including software information networks, medical, water, energy, and transportation. Going forward, the MHA will be [...]
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California’s Community Medical Centers Joins Premier –PremierConnect Draws Them In
California’s Community Medical Centers joins the Premier Alliance. As central California’s largest healthcare provider and private employer and as a new member (“owner”) of Premier, Community now has the opportunity to collaborate with other Premier members –nearly half of the nation’s hospitals. “Community is excited to partner with Premier to overcome the challenges of this reform environment and lead others in adapting to the changing nature of care delivery with innovative solutions,” said Mr. Jack Chubb, CEO of Community Regional Medical Center. The locally owned nonprofit system will integrate data across its nine network facilities including three acute-care hospitals, as [...]
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A New IDN is Born: Allegheny Health Network Gains Regulatory Approval in Pennsylvania
What’s in a name? Highmark today announced the creation of Allegheny Health Network (AHN) as the region’s newest integrated delivery system. Having finally secured approval from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department on Highmark’s Form A filing, the hospitals and providers of West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) will now serve as the anchor of the newly formed and already growing Allegheny Health Network. “Today marks a historic and exciting day for health care in our region. I’m pleased to announce Allegheny Health Network as our integrated health care delivery network,” said William Winkenwerder, Jr., M.D., Highmark’s president and CEO. “Allegheny Health [...]
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Branding Your Approach To Sourcing and Negotiations
Late last year I interviewed Jeff Ryan of BravoSolution, a veteran of our industry and a genuine expert in the application of optimization to sourcing. Briefly, Jeff made a point in our discussion (I’m paraphrasing) that “there was no room for reverse auctions in a collaborative approach to sourcing.” And while I agree with him, it’s important to note that Jeff wasn’t saying that reverse auctions are bad or have outlived their usefulness. The point is, they do have their place; just not in supplier markets where your ability to realize full value potential requires a partnership. But it’s even [...]
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UPS Laser-Focused on Healthcare Supply Chain –Investors Already Seeing the Pay Off
In case you haven’t heard, UPS is making it crystal clear that it intends to dominate in the healthcare marketplace. It’s a $50 billion global market and when you consider the down turn in traditional business demand for overnight shipping services, both UPS and FedEx have set their sights on a marketplace –the medical cargo marketplace—that is projected to grow at a rate of 20% annually. “Both companies have more than doubled their dedicated health-care storage and handling space in the past five years to take advantage of a business with potential operating margins of 15 percent or higher, dwarfing [...]
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Novation’s Aptitude Launches Today –One Approach to Solving the Local Contracting Problem
Roughly ten days ago, we reported on Novation’s formation of a new company, called Aptitude, that will offer hospitals and other providers an online platform to negotiate custom contracts for medical supplies and services. Aptitude will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Novation and its services will be available to all comers, not just existing members of its GPO network –surely an enlightened decision that directly addresses a well-known gap in terms of the current contracting solutions coverage provided by most GPOs.Indeed, I’ll soon be posting information about a alternative approach and solution that will be offered by MedAssets. [...]
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Can Unique Device Identification Improve the Patient Experience?
Healthcare Matters would like to welcome the following guest post from Rob Leibrandt. Rob is the Senior Market Manager at Camcode, makers of UDI Labels for Medical Equipment. Unique Device Identification (UDI) is critically important in the healthcare system. In July 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule (http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2011-N-0090-0001) that would phase in, by device classes, requirements for medical devices to carry a unique device identifier. The benefits to implementing such a requirement include more accurate reporting and tracking of adverse events, more rapid identification of problems with specific products, better control over product recalls and improved patient [...]
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Novation Announces its “Period 2 National Group Buy” –Up to 71% Savings Opportunities on Capital Equipment
Late yesterday, Novation announced the launch of its group buys for the second period of 2013. These particular group buy opportunities are available April through June of 2013. What’s on the table? Novation is saying that its members can achieve up to 71 percent savings in the following categories of capital equipment: Beds and cribs C-ARM systems Chemistry/immunochemistry Cleaning and decontamination Coagulation Cold storage (ends May 31, 2013) CT scanners CV suites Exam room equipment General radiography Hematology Holter monitors Mammography Micro ID sensitivity MRI (and MRI compatible infusion pumps (ends June 15, 2013) Non-invasive cardiology equipment Nuclear medicine Patient [...]
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The GPO Business Model Continues to Evolve –SCM Applications Taking the Lead
Novation has formed a new company that will offer hospitals and other providers an online platform to negotiate custom contracts for medical supplies. The new company, called Aptitude, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary –and its services will be available to all comers, not just members of its GPO network. Such enlightened reasoning is becoming increasingly pervasive among the largest GPOs who are all starting to recognize that growth (in terms of market share) is difficult to achieve with an “all or nothing” mindset. According to an article that just appeared in Modern Healthcare yesterday, “Aptitude executives say the [...]
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MedAssets Partners with SAP/Ariba –The eCommerce Competitive Landscape Just Changed
MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDAS) today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Ariba (recently purchased by SAP) that significantly expands MedAssets’ industry-leading supply chain management and outsourced procurement capabilities. The goal of the partnership is to offer healthcare providers and suppliers the industry’s most comprehensive electronic commerce platform, including requisition to purchase order (PO) transmission, shipment notification, invoice transmission and reconciliation workflow automation, expense posting, supplier payment and early-pay discount solutions. More from the Press Release: Through this partnership, healthcare providers will be able to conduct fully automated e-commerce with the nearly one million companies connected to the Ariba® Network through [...]
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- Healthcare in the Cloud: Forecast Still Hazy : HIMSS 2013: Top Takeaways Gathering Clouds said: [...] to David McCament’s mind, the future of healthcare cloud is not so clear. In a gue... more
- Time Definite Logistics –MNX Expands Global Network and Adds Track & Trace : Daniel said: Everything is very open with a precise description of the issues. It was definitely inform... more
- Varian Runs a “Clinic” in Effective Lobbying –Harry Reid Rides Shotgun : Thomas Finn said: Thanks for your comment Bo. I do not fully comprehend the differences between the two opti... more
- Varian Runs a “Clinic” in Effective Lobbying –Harry Reid Rides Shotgun : Barton 'Bo' Cooke said: Tom, you nailed it. This rider, put in at the last minute and was rushed into the Congres... more
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