E-Marketplace Featured Companies

Global Healthcare Exchange
www.ghx.com

Five of the largest device companies—Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical Systems, Baxter International Inc., Abbott Laboratories Inc., and Medtronic Inc.—organized the Global Healthcare Exchange to enable users to buy, sell, and distribute medical devices and equipment, as well as other healthcare products and related services on-line. The site launched on March 29, 2000 with the goal of being a one-stop destination for site users to obtain any healthcare purchase and access any healthcare manufacturer, supplier, distributor, or provider.

The international B2B healthcare exchange hopes to transform healthcare procurement by making delivery more efficient between the individual links in the supply chain. By streamlining the procurement of medical products and services for healthcare professionals, and through strong relationships between healthcare providers and suppliers, GHX believes it can reduce cost and improve patient care. In addition, GHX (with the help of industry suppliers, providers, distributors, and other groups) will maintain an "industry-standard product catalog, which is reviewed, maintained and verified by the manufacturers who create the products and services, thus ensuring information accuracy." The close connection between providers and distributors and the ability to find accurate information quickly and efficiently, are what GHX hopes will make it an on-line success.

Medibuy.com
www.medibuy.com

Founded in 1998, Medibuy links buyers and sellers worldwide for real-time, paperless transactions, with the goal of cutting costs from the healthcare supply chain.

Medibuy's eCatalog allows buyers to purchase medical supplies from an on-line catalog at predetermined prices, including customer-specific (contract) prices. eAuction allows users to buy and sell used equipment, excess inventory, and refurbished items. Auction products are made available for objective review and transactions are handled through secure escrow services. eSpecials enables suppliers to post promotional or excess inventory for a short period of time to buyers at deep discounts. Buyers can purchase these products at noncontractual, one-time-only prices. Finally, eRFP allows buyers to submit RFPs for all equipment and supplies in a secure environment. eRFPs are then distributed to qualified suppliers, who can then respond immediately with bids.

Medibuy's marketplace aims to reduce many of the inefficiencies of the traditional healthcare supply chain by providing substantial benefits to participating buyers and sellers, reducing order processing and tracking costs, and improving the use of data relating to products, equipment, services, transactions, and market trends. Medibuy has a growing network of strategic relationships with technology and healthcare leaders including Premier Inc., HCA, and WebMD Corp.

Neoforma.com
www.neoforma.com

Neoforma went public in January 2000 with the goal of providing services that enable users to buy and sell new and used medical products on-line. Services are intended to offer supply-chain efficiencies for both suppliers and purchasers of medical products and extend the reach of existing sales and distribution channels.

Neoforma has three primary services designed to address the entire purchasing cycle, from planning and procurement to liquidation. The Shop site provides a marketplace for purchasers to locate and buy new medical products. The Auction site gives users the ability to list, sell, and buy used, refurbished, and surplus medical products. The Plan site provides interactive content to healthcare facility planners. An additional section--Resources--is designed to help site users with various purchasing decisions and includes industry-specific information. Users can read the latest healthcare news or search for on-line books, journals, and other resources.