GHX to Present Strategies to Optimize Procurement, Especially of Physician Preference Items, at Annual AHRMM Conference

LOUISVILLE, Colo., July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the biggest challenges faced by healthcare providers today is gaining control of the purchase of physician preference items (PPI), such as orthopedic implants, cardiac stents, pacemakers and other advanced medical devices, which can be among the most expensive items that hospitals buy. GHX will present strategies for optimizing procurement processes, especially around PPI, at the AHRMM 2010 Annual Conference & Exhibition, to be held Aug. 1-4 in Denver.

To highlight practical applications of effective PPI management within a provider organization, Dale Locklair, vice president, procurement and construction, McLeod Health, will lead in-booth discussions at Booth #401 on Monday, Aug. 2. An area in which procurement optimization can have a big impact is in the ordering of products for the operating room (OR)—specifically, high-cost implantables. In his presentations, Locklair will discuss how McLeod Health has saved more than $2 million in just six months since implementing new procedures in the OR. Locklair will present the sessions, entitled "Creating a Supply Chain Without Walls," at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. MDT. No registration is necessary.

Physician preference items frequently account for as much as 40 percent of a hospital system's medical-surgical supply spend, according to Datamonitor, a provider of global business information. Many of those items are not in a hospital's enterprise resource planning (ERP) or materials management information system (MMIS), which makes them difficult to manage. PPI purchases, meanwhile, are estimated to be growing at a compounded average rate of 17 percent, compared to less than 3 percent for commodity items like sutures and gloves.

GHX has also published a new white paper, entitled "Procurement Optimization: A Holistic Approach," which provides a perspective on employing more effective procurement strategies in today's challenging healthcare environment. The white paper provides additional guidance on how to use technology, people and processes to address these challenges. Topics include:

• Why procurement optimization is important
• How physician preference item purchases affect the bottom line
• The five main challenges of procurement optimization
• How creating a tighter linkage between the revenue cycle and supply chain can lead to real, measurable benefits
• Four steps to achieve an optimal procurement function

To download a copy of the white paper, go to http://www.ghx.com/tabid/918/Default.aspx, or visit the GHX Booth, #401, at the AHRMM conference.

Procurement processes can also be enhanced through broader adoption and use of industry supply chain standards. GHX will also conduct in-booth sessions on how healthcare organizations can prepare for the pending sunrise dates by which group purchasing organizations and others in the market have called for use of the GS1 standards for location and product identification. The sessions, entitled, "Getting Ready for Sunrise," will be held Tuesday, Aug. 3, at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. MDT in the GHX booth. Ed McCauley, GHX vice president and general manager, e-sourcing and business intelligence, will discuss best practices developed as a result of numerous pilots conducted by GHX and its participating trading partners to enable the use of standards in supply chain transactions.  

About GHX

As the business hub for healthcare, Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) enables healthcare providers and suppliers in North America and Europe to reduce costs and improve margins by automating processes, reducing operating expenses and increasing knowledge-based decision making.  Products and services include trading partner connectivity, order and contract management and validation, data synchronization, sales force automation and business intelligence. Equity owners of GHX are Abbott Exchange, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; B. Braun Medical Inc.; BD; Boston Scientific Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Covidien; C.R. Bard, Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.; GE Healthcare; HCA; Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.; McKesson Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Owens & Minor; Premier, Inc.; Siemens; University HealthSystem Consortium; and VHA Inc.  For more information, visit www.ghx.com.

SOURCE GHX