SwedishAmerican Health System Selects GHX Procurement Suite to Help Reduce Costs Through Improved Data Accuracy and Correct Contract Pricing

LOUISVILLE, Colo., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- SwedishAmerican Health System, an integrated delivery network headquartered in Rockford, Illinois, has chosen a combination of GHX software solutions and business consulting services to help it automate and optimize its procure-to-pay process. SwedishAmerican has a goal of expediting the delivery of medical-surgical products and reducing costs while continuing to deliver high-quality patient care.

SwedishAmerican will use GHX Procurement Suite, a procurement optimization solution for healthcare providers, to enable more strategic and cost-effective purchasing decisions. The solution incorporates data management, contract and price management, and requisitioning capabilities to drive better visibility to non-file spending, ultimately helping bring a higher percentage of spend under contract. In addition, SwedishAmerican has engaged GHX Business Solutions to provide project management and coordination for the implementation.

"With the volume of transactions we were handling, it was almost impossible to ensure our data was always accurate and that we were paying the correct price for products," said Patti DeWane, corporate controller at SwedishAmerican. "When we got a price change from our GPO (group purchasing organization), it required a manual update."

DeWane worked with John Cashmore, SwedishAmerican's director of supply chain, who pointed out that the health system was losing out on opportunities to maximize its pricing tiers and was experiencing pricing errors when invoices came into Accounts Payable, requiring time to resolve the exceptions.

"We were already on the GHX platform and using MetaTrade to conduct more electronic purchasing, and when John brought the data to me and explained how we were missing opportunities to become more efficient and reduce costs, it just made sense to go with Procurement Suite," DeWane said.  

Procurement Suite helps assure accurate pricing by accessing the most current contract pricing loaded by a GPO into a provider's ERP or MMIS system. When SwedishAmerican places an order, Procurement Suite will be able to compare current contract prices to prices in purchase orders, purchase order acknowledgments and invoices, driving accuracy throughout the procurement process. It also reduces the manual effort required to update item master pricing by delivering pricing updates that can be integrated into the item master, streamlining price management and increasing price accuracy.

"Today's changing healthcare environment has prompted providers like SwedishAmerican to seek opportunities for efficiencies and cost savings through improved supply chain management," said Bruce Johnson, president and CEO of GHX. "In this increasingly demanding market, GHX continues to look beyond our traditional exchange services to deliver solutions, like Procurement Suite, that will meet our customers' evolving needs."

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.

About SwedishAmerican Health System

SwedishAmerican Health System is a not-for-profit, locally governed healthcare system dedicated to providing the highest quality and compassionate care to our community. The system serves 12 counties in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin through a major acute care hospital, a network of 29 primary care and multi-specialty clinics, the region's largest home health care agency and a full spectrum of outpatient, wellness and education programs, and the charitable endeavors of the SwedishAmerican Foundation.

SOURCE GHX