GHX and AHS lead GS1 supply chain drive

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – GHX has assembled eight leading Canadian healthcare provider and supplier organizations in a collaborative initiative to establish a leading practice model for synchronization and use of GS1 standards among trading partners in the Canadian healthcare marketplace.

The participants are:

• Alberta Health Services
• Baxter Corporation
• Cardinal Health Canada
• Canadian Hospital Specialties Ltd.
• Cook Medical, Canada
• Medtronic
• Johnson & Johnson Medical Products Inc.
• MEDEC

While there is industry-wide recognition for the benefits that healthcare data standards can provide both clinically and operationally, data standards utilization is still very low in healthcare.

Many organizations and groups have stated that they want to drive healthcare industry adoption of GS1 standards, or are setting up committees to do so, but to date there has been very little practical forward progress.

“We have assembled a group of stakeholders in Canada who are serious about demonstrating the value of fully implementing GS1 standards and are willing to showcase this proof of concept in their own organizations to accelerate industry-wide adoption,” said Nils Clausen (pictured), AVP Supplier Sales, GHX North America.

“All parties are committed to working collaboratively together to achieve successful outcomes that will benefit not only their organizations but healthcare as a whole, including the patients they serve.”

The Canadian Healthcare Medical Device Standards Project was initiated to drive real change within the healthcare industry. The goal of this project is to identify the value of GS1 standards implementation in terms of business outcomes derived from data synchronization and e-commerce transactions, and the patient quality and safety improvements that can be gained from using unique device identifiers (UDIs) within provider systems.

At the conclusion of the project, the participants will deliver a simplified, sustainable and global model for standards implementation that others in the industry can utilize.

The project will be executed in two phases:

• Data synchronization: Create a sustainable, efficient model for sharing product data via GDSN-certified data pools between participating supplier and distributor stakeholders and Alberta Health Services.
• e-Commerce: Subsequently utilize GS1 data attributes in electronic data interchange (EDI) order transactions between participating supplier/distributor stakeholders and Alberta Health Services.

“The ability for all stakeholders in the healthcare supply chain to utilize global data standards holds tremendous potential for improving the safety of our patients and the operational effectiveness of our industry,” said Jitendra Prasad, chief program officer, Contracting, Procurement and Supply Management, Alberta Health Services (AHS). “The only way we can develop a model for sharing and transacting data that benefits everyone is to work collaboratively together. At AHS, we are proud of the role we are playing to create such a model that others in the industry can learn and benefit from.”

GHX will manage the project amongst all the stakeholders, and document and publish the findings of the group’s success in a white paper that details the value derived from implementing GS1 standards from the perspective of provider, supplier and distributor organizations.

The paper will be made available to the healthcare industry so that other providers and suppliers can replicate this model within their own trading partner relationships.

About GHX

Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) drives costs out of healthcare with cloud-based supply chain management technology and services in order to help enable better patient care and savings by maximizing automation, efficiency, and accuracy of business processes. GHX offers healthcare providers and suppliers an open and neutral electronic trading exchange that delivers procurement and accounts payable automation, contract and inventory management, vendor credentialing and management, business intelligence, and other supply chain-related tools and services. For more information, visit www.ghx.com and The Healthcare Hub.