e-Commerce

Montreal teaching hospital selects GHX for e-commerce

MONTREAL – Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal has become the first integrated hospital in the province of Quebec to begin purchasing medical supplies electronically through Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX).

Using its existing IT integration through information CGI Group Inc., and the GHX Connect Plus connectivity solution, Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal is also the first Canadian hospital to utilize GHX to streamline the processing of supply chain-related financial transactions, such as electronic invoices, as well as those associated with order processing.

Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal began transacting business electronically with Baxter Corp., a major source of medical supplies, at the end of January 2005 and expected to have established similar capabilities with additional suppliers to purchase more than half of its medical and surgical supplies via GHX by the end of February 2005.

“In order to improve our supply chain processes and supplier relationships, it is important that we utilize GHX, which is a proven global platform that has been adopted by more than 80 percent of our principal suppliers,” said Clement Roy, Director of Materials Management for Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal. “We also anticipate a significant reduction in supply chain errors, not only because we will no longer have to re-key documents, but more importantly because we can improve the accuracy of our product data.”

Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal is utilizing the GHX Content Center to cleanse and correct its internal product databases by validating information against GHX’s AllSource content repository, which contains information on more than 1.4 million healthcare items and is the only electronic source of product data maintained and verified by suppliers.

With access to accurate product data, Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and other Canadian healthcare providers can reduce purchase order errors by eliminating obsolete, duplicate and inaccurate product information. Further, Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal expects to reduce the number of invoice discrepancies, which require considerable time to reconcile and often delay payments to suppliers. By paying invoices in a timely manner, hospitals can take advantage of early payment discounts and avoid late penalties.

By integrating the GHX Connect Plus solution with its technology service provider, CGI, Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal is able to electronically transmit a wide variety of supply chain documents, including invoices.

CGI hosts and provides information technology services for enterprise resource planning systems used by Quebec hospitals. By utilizing CGI to integrate to GHX, Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and other Quebec hospitals can participate in the exchange at a lower cost than if they were to connect to GHX separately.
“CGI already provides its hospital customers with reliable and secure information technology services. Now, by integrating to GHX, we can further expand the scope of services available to those customers and in very cost effective manner,” says Pierre Turcotte, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Greater Montreal, CGI.

More than 245 other hospitals in Canada are already connected to GHX, as well as 26 suppliers, including major manufacturers located and operating in Quebec.
For its part, Baxter Corp. has transacted business via GHX for more than three years. “During that timeframe, both Baxter and its customers using the exchange have reduced the amount of time it takes to process and fulfill orders, while minimizing the number of errors that must be addressed manually,” said Denis Cote, Regional Director Sales, Baxter Corporation. “GHX is our preferred ecommerce solution, and we welcome Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal to our growing list of ecommerce business partners.”

“GHX is actively recruiting additional healthcare suppliers in Quebec, as well as all areas of the country, in order to enable Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal to procure all of its supplies electronically,” said GHX Canada General Manager Nils Clausen. “Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and CGI are among Quebec’s most important and progressive organizations, and we look forward to working together to help control rising healthcare costs in Quebec and the rest of the country.”

Owned by representatives of the entire healthcare supply chain, including suppliers, hospitals and group purchasing organizations, GHX operates in Europe and North America and has been providing e-commerce services and secure connectivity for hospitals and suppliers in Canada since 2001. Transaction volume in North America in 2004 was $4.4 billion and is expected to nearly double in 2005.

In addition to being a teaching and research institution, Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal is a hospital dedicated to providing general healthcare, as well as specialized and ultra-specialized healthcare services, making it an important link in Quebec’s healthcare network. The Hospital primarily serves the population of northwest Montreal, but its work on a broader regional level
also makes it a major healthcare centre for the people of Laval, the Laurentians and Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

To fulfill its mission, the Hospital relies on some 400 physicians and 3,800 healthcare professionals, technicians and support staff. Hôpital Sacré-Coeur de Montréal is a participating member of Association Quebecoise de la Logistique et de l’Approvisionnement du Sector de la Sante (AQLASS). For more information, visit the Hospital’s website at www.crhsc.umontreal.ca/hscm.

Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) provides an open and neutral electronic trading exchange, along with complementary products and services, through which buyers and sellers can collaborate to improve efficiencies in the healthcare supply chain. GHX’s catalog and content services seek to improve the accuracy of purchasing transactions, reducing many of the most common and costly problems in healthcare procurement, while the privately held company’s revenue neutral business model is designed to lower costs for all involved.

Equity owners of GHX include Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.; GE Medical Systems; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Abbott Exchange, Inc.; Siemens; Becton, Dickinson & Co.; Boston Scientific Corp.; Tyco Healthcare Group, LP; Guidant Corp.; C.R. Bard, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Fisher Scientific International, Inc.; McKesson Corp.; B Braun Medical Inc.; Premier, Inc. and HCA. For more information visit www.ghx.com.

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent information technology and business process services firms in North America. CGI and its affiliated companies employ approximately 25,000 professionals. CGI provides end-to-end IT and business process services to clients worldwide from offices in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific as well as from centers of excellence in Canada, the US, Europe and India. CGI’s annualized revenue run-rate is currently CDN$3.8 billion (US$3.2 billion) and at September 30, 2004, CGI’s order backlog was CDN$13.0 billion (US$10.8 billion). Website: www.cgi.com.