GHX Calls on Industry to Vote for Healthcare's Most Impactful Business Partners

LOUISVILLE, Colo., March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Voting is now open for the 2011 GHXcellence Industry Impact Awards, recognizing provider and supplier organizations that are having the greatest impact on the healthcare supply chain by:

• Automating supply chain processes for greater efficiency and visibility
• Innovating through the use of new technology to transform business processes
• Engaging critical business areas across organizations in supply chain advancements
• Collaborating with trading partners to achieve mutual benefit from supply chain improvements
• Facilitating efficient and cost-effective business transactions for trading partners

Online voting takes place now through March 20, 2012, and the winners will be announced at the 12th annual GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit May 7-9, 2012, in Orlando.

The GHXcellence Industry Impact Awards honor healthcare organizations that are transforming the business of healthcare through their partnerships with GHX. Over the past two months, GHX members have nominated provider and supplier organizations that they believe meet this criterion. Now the greater healthcare industry has the opportunity to vote for the GHXcellence Industry Impact Awards winners from the following list of provider and supplier nominees:

Provider Nominees

• Avera Health
• Berkshire Health Systems
• Bon Secours Health System
• Champlain Health Supply Services
• Columbus Regional Healthcare System
• Hackensack University Medical Center
• Indiana University Health
• Mary Washington Healthcare
• UCSF/UCSF Medical Center

Supplier Nominees

• Cook Medical Incorporated
• Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems
• Terumo

GHX will also present nine additional GHXcellence Awards this year based on quantifiable performance, with organizations judged on metrics such as their percentage increase in purchase order lines, number of electronic trading partners or market share gains. The awards include:

• U.S. Healthcare Provider of the Year: Small to Mid-sized Organization
• U.S. Healthcare Provider of the Year: Large Organization
• Canadian Healthcare Provider of the Year
• Most Improved Healthcare Provider
• Best 50 IDN
• U.S. Healthcare Supplier of the Year: Small Organization*
• U.S. Healthcare Supplier of the Year: Mid-sized Organization*
• U.S. Healthcare Supplier of the Year: Large Organization*
• Canadian Healthcare Supplier of the Year

"In recent years, healthcare providers and suppliers have increasingly recognized the impact they have on one another and the business and financial benefits of collaborative supply chain improvements," said Derek Smith, executive vice president, Marketing and Product Management, GHX. "GHX members have been at the forefront of this trend and we are excited to highlight their success through this year's GHXcellence Awards program. We encourage members of the healthcare community to judge the nominees for themselves and vote for the provider and supplier that have made the greatest strides in improving operations and reducing costs for themselves and their trading partners."

*Organizations categorized based on sales revenue

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