2012 GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit Keynotes Tackle Healthcare Opportunities

LOUISVILLE, Colo., April 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At a time when the healthcare industry is experiencing unprecedented financial pressures, public scrutiny and regulatory demands, the 2012 GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit will address how now, more than ever, the industry needs strong leaders who can come forward, embrace change and make bold decisions to improve quality and reduce costs. The Summit, which takes place May 7-9, 2012, in Orlando, will feature keynote presentations – from individuals both inside and outside of the healthcare sector – on the importance of change, leadership and courage in overcoming the challenges facing our industry as it strives to provide efficient, affordable, quality patient care.

The 2012 GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit keynote presentations will feature:

• Charles Poirier, author, Diagnosing Greatness: Ten Traits of the Best Supply Chains, presents lessons learned from organizations across the world on achieving a world-class supply chain and how providers and suppliers can improve business performance by thinking outside the confines of the healthcare industry and leveraging best practices from other sectors.
• Chip Heath, author, SWITCH: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, will reveal a simple, three-part framework for enacting change in tough times, including where to start, how to overcome resistance to change and reliable ways to make change efforts stick.
• Marlene Weatherwax, CFO, and Doug Sabotin, director of Lean Sigma, Columbus Regional Health, on how meaningful change within a healthcare organization starts with the C-suite and integrates across multi-functional areas. For the past seven years, Weatherwax and Sabotin have driven Columbus Regional Health to improve quality and reduce costs by adopting Lean Sigma processes. They will share their organization's key learnings and successes on the importance of leadership support through this case study on process standardization.
• Richard Picciotto, Fire Department City of New York (FDNY) Battalion Commander, was the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the collapse of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Picciotto, who had the courage to make tough calls during the 9/11 catastrophe, will provide a first-person account of being buried for more than four hours in the smoldering rubble of the North Tower after its collapse.

The GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit is the only forum in healthcare today that brings together participants from across the entire healthcare supply chain to address these and other important issues within a collaborative environment. Healthcare providers, manufacturers, distributors and group purchasing organizations convene to learn from one another, challenge each other and formulate new solutions to problems facing the industry. To view the complete agenda for the Summit or to register, visit www.ghx.com/supplychainsummit.

About GHX
Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX), a healthcare technology and services company, helps reduce the cost of doing business in healthcare by enabling better supply chain management. GHX makes it easier for hospitals, other healthcare providers and the suppliers that do business with them to drive cost and inefficiency out of their processes. Working with GHX, the healthcare organizations that make up the GHX Global Network are on track to save $5 billion by 2014—savings that can be invested in such things as hiring more nurses, providing care to uninsured children or developing new medical products. GHX is owned by organizations on both the buy and sell side of the healthcare supply chain, including some of the largest companies in the world. Find GHX on the Web, on Twitter @GHX_LLC and on Facebook @GHX.

SOURCE GHX