The hospital has utilized its existing integration with IT services provider CGI Group and the Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) Connect Plus connectivity solution to streamline the processing of supply chain-related financial transactions, such as electronic invoices, and those associated with order processing.
Hopital Sacre-Coeur de Montreal began transacting business electronically with Baxter Corporation on January 28, 2005 and expects to establish similar capabilities with additional suppliers in order to be able to purchase more than half of its medical and surgical supplies via GHX by the end of February 2005.
Clement Roy, director of materials management for Hopital Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, also commented that he anticipates a reduction in supply chain errors by eliminating the need to rekey documents and improving product data accuracy.
The hospital hopes the integration of the GHX Connect Plus solution with CGI will enable it to participate in the exchange at a lower cost than if they were to connect to GHX separately.
GHX is owned by representatives of the entire healthcare supply chain and operates in Europe and North America. It experienced transaction volume of $4.4bn in North America in 2004 and is expecting to nearly double this in 2005.
