Medical Device Link.

Originally Published EMDM September 2002

WEB WATCH

An Internet-based trading exchange through which hospitals can purchase products and an on-line provider of cost-management services to the healthcare industry have signed a three-year agreement to connect their respective exchanges. By building an integration link, Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX; Westminster, CO, USA) and Broadlane (San Francisco, CA, USA) hope to enable their respective suppliers and hospitals to more easily conduct business with each other while minimizing costs associated with information exchange. The agreement was announced in June.

Broadlane operates Broadlink, a private exchange comprising almost 300 healthcare providers. GHX operates an open trading exchange with hundreds of members across the entire supply chain. Equity owners of GXH include industry giants such as Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical Systems, Baxter International, Medtronic, B. Braun Medical, and numerous others. These suppliers will now be able to conduct business seamlessly with Broadlane hospitals through GHX.

"Our alliance with Broadlane will deliver immediate value to all participants," says GHX CEO Mike Mahoney. "First, providers connected to Broadlink and GHX-integrated suppliers will be able to conduct business with one another through a single point of connectivity on each end. Further, GHX supplier members can participate without paying any additional fees."

GHX has also announced two new products designed to address what the company calls the most common and costly problems in healthcare materials management.

GHX Content Intelligence corrects inaccuracies in purchase orders early in the process by automatically flagging incorrect data, electronically notifying buyers of the errors, inserting corrections, and keeping records of the changes for future purposes. The tool will save time and money by eliminating the need for costly manual intervention and rework.

Report Source produces real-time data, such as a price discrepancy report that identifies variances between the price a purchaser expects to pay and the price the supplier plans to charge. Again, by acting preventively, the company hopes to avoid mistakes that can be costly and time-consuming to fix later in the process.

For more information, contact the GHX European headquarters at 300, avenue de Tervueren, B-1150 Brussels, Belgium; phone: +32 2 7614800; fax: +32 2 7614801; Internet: www.ghx.com.

Copyright ©2002 European Medical Device Manufacturer