Premier Healthcare Alliance Endorses GHX Supply Chain Management Technologies, Offering Its Member Healthcare Providers Complete Procure-to-Pay Solution

CHARLOTTE, N.C., and LOUISVILLE, Colo., March 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Premier healthcare alliance and GHX are partnering to help Premier alliance members gain better control over the purchase of medical-surgical supplies that are not in their item master or on contract, and to automate their accounts payable processes. Premier has endorsed the use of GHX Procurement Suite, in conjunction with Premier Supply Chain Advisor®, and OnDemand AP® to help its members drive costs out of their supply chains and achieve greater efficiencies while continuing to provide high-quality patient care.

The seamless integration between Procurement Suite and Supply Chain Advisor will make it possible for Premier member hospitals to capture up to 12 percent savings* on the amount they spend on supplies by improving contract compliance and increasing procurement process efficiencies. OnDemand AP will deliver up to 100 percent of a member's purchase order-related invoices electronically, even from suppliers that still submit invoices via fax or mail.

"The frequency and magnitude of changes to product and contract data in healthcare is often more than most hospital materials departments can manage on their own," said Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners. "GHX and Premier are working together to take this challenge away from hospitals. We give them the confidence that they are making decisions based on the best data available and the tools to make the process as easy as possible."  

With Procurement Suite, which helps align contract information with procurement data, hospitals have greater visibility into and control over purchases that occur outside of materials management's purview. Non-materials management personnel can more easily identify and procure products that are on their item master or on contract. Procurement Suite also applies most favorable contract pricing to purchases, helping hospitals fully leverage the value of their Premier contracts.

"The combination of these solutions gives providers a new supply chain model that harnesses the power of Premier's contracting expertise, and links it with GHX's ability to provide visibility to real-time product data and automate the sourcing, procurement and invoicing processes," said Bruce Johnson, president and CEO of GHX. "Together, Premier and GHX are helping supply chain leaders source the best products at the optimum price, while making it possible for clinicians to spend less time on materials management and more time on patient care."

Procurement Suite integrates with the majority of materials management and enterprise resource planning systems used by hospitals today. As a result, providers can leverage their existing technology to tap into the GHX content management platform to improve order accuracy and the GHX exchange to conduct business electronically with the suppliers from whom they purchase the majority of their products.  Procurement Suite also integrates with Supply Chain Advisor, Premier's Web-based contract catalog and price management system that enables members to access Premier contracts and supply chain data; negotiate with suppliers to select and activate price tiers; and manage their contracts in one place.

OnDemand AP helps enable hospitals to eliminate manual invoice processing and reconciliation tasks, which helps to cut the average time it takes to process an invoice from 25-60 days to 2-5 days while also reducing keying error rates. By shortening the invoice-to-payment cycle, hospitals can take greater advantage of early-pay discounts, maximize labor efficiencies and reduce hard-dollar costs. Some GHX customers are seeing up to an 80 percent reduction in hard-dollar costs using the solution, according to GHX research and customer feedback. OnDemand AP also can help enable a savings of up to 50 percent of labor time associated with invoice processing/keying, scanning and invoice discrepancy resolution.

* Savings were calculated using a process validated by PRTM, the global management consulting firm that developed a supply chain operations measurement process. Small, medium and large facilities were independently modeled and results showed that no matter the size of the health system, 12 percent savings can be realized.

About GHX

Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) makes healthcare more efficient by delivering software and services that enable both healthcare providers and suppliers to increase efficiency, lower costs and deliver better patient care. With the largest footprint in healthcare supply chain management, GHX connects more than 80 percent of licensed hospital beds at U.S. hospitals, as well as providers in Canada and Europe, with the suppliers from which they purchase the majority of their medical-surgical supplies. GHX is transforming today's linear healthcare supply chain into the industry's only healthcare supply cloud, providing 360-degree visibility into areas affecting both clinical and financial performance. Working with GHX, organizations can improve business processes, automate supply chain systems and collaborate to solve the tough challenges facing healthcare today. GHX is owned by members of the healthcare industry, including 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.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 72,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. http://www.premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

SOURCE GHX