GHX Launches Connect 2 Customers, Enabling Healthcare Suppliers to Manage Consigned Inventory from Any Mobile Device

LOUISVILLE, Colo., Feb. 22, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare suppliers now have greater flexibility in managing high-dollar consigned inventory using GHX Connect 2 Customers, a Web-based solution that suppliers can access from any mobile device to automate order and inventory management. Connect 2 Customers streamlines processes and provides real-time visibility into the consignment product sales cycle, enabling suppliers to increase sales force productivity, help optimize field inventory, enhance customer satisfaction and improve financial performance. Connect 2 Customers complements the recent announcement by GHX that the company is expanding into the implantable device market.

For healthcare suppliers, managing consigned inventory at provider sites and in the possession of field sales representatives is time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly. Much of the consigned order process requires manual tasks, such as submitting orders via phone and fax, manually counting inventory and engaging with customer service to help ensure products are available for clinicians when they need them.

Lack of visibility into consigned products in the field increases costs and decreases revenue by as much as 5 percent of a supplier's total sales revenue due to labor, excess and lost inventory, expired products and un-invoiced purchase orders, which in turn can jeopardize both customer relationships and patient safety. Suppliers also run the risk of non-compliance with government regulations when unable to quickly locate products in the field in the event of a recall.

With GHX Connect 2 Customers, a supplier can manage its consignment sales and inventory business processes electronically via a Web-based solution that integrates with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and is accessed through a certified browser regardless of the hardware employed (e.g. smart phone, tablet computer, laptop computer). The real-time access and visibility into product ordering and inventory management provided by the GHX Connect 2 Customers platform help enable suppliers to streamline operations, reduce waste, better meet customer needs and comply with regulations.

GHX Connect 2 Customers is the latest generation of GHX Mobile Solutions, building upon the company's comprehensive set of applications for order, inventory and field account management. Existing GHX customers can leverage their connectivity with the GHX exchange to provide field representatives with critical data on customer order and invoice status through the GHX Connect 2 Customers platform. Connect 2 Customers enables supplier sales representatives to efficiently:

• Track and manage field inventory such as consignment, loaner, samples and trunk stock
• Schedule, perform, track and manage field inventory audits
• Manage and submit field orders electronically
• Manage surgery schedules to support patient procedures
• Request products and kits for upcoming cases to meet customer needs
• Manage customer account data, contacts, product contract pricing, call notes and other account information

"Healthcare is becoming increasingly mobile with suppliers and providers using handheld devices to enhance efficiency in business operations and across areas of care," said Derek Smith, executive vice president, Marketing and Product Management, GHX. "The GHX Connect 2 Customers solution combines our cloud-based infrastructure with handheld devices sales teams are already using to provide suppliers with immediate access to critical information they can use to increase their business performance, reduce inventory loss and better meet the needs of providers and the customers they serve."

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