With Sunrise Date Approaching, Healthcare Providers Leverage GHX Services for Global Location Numbers in Supply Chain Transactions

With Sunrise Date Approaching, Healthcare Providers Leverage GHX Services for Global Location Numbers in Supply Chain Transactions

Expanded use of industry standards in the healthcare supply chain expected to improve efficiencies, leading to better quality patient care and improved financial performance

PR Newswire -- July 27, 2010





LOUISVILLE, Colo., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to requests from hospitals and other healthcare providers, GHX is now offering services to help them use GS1's Global Location Numbers (GLNs) in supply chain transactions with trading partners through the GHX exchange in time to comply with the Dec. 31, 2010, sunrise date set by major group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and a number of healthcare systems. Suppliers are being called on to use GLNs, as opposed to proprietary account numbers, in business agreements and transactions by the sunrise date. In order for suppliers to meet this request, healthcare providers must first assign GLNs to locations that are currently identified with supplier-provided account numbers.



Since its founding 10 years ago, GHX has helped facilitate the expansion of industry standards to enable greater visibility and collaboration in the healthcare supply chain and, in turn, build trust among stakeholders, improve efficiencies and lead to better quality patient care and improved financial performance.



The new GLN trading services for providers incorporate best practices developed from the results of numerous pilots conducted by GHX and participating hospitals and suppliers. The GLN enablement pilots were conducted to test the ability and steps required to support the use of standards in transactions.



GLNs are globally unique identification numbers for legal entities, functional entities and physical locations. Increasingly, the healthcare industry is recognizing that use of the 13-digit numbers has the potential to improve accuracy and efficiencies in the healthcare supply chain, especially as it relates to determining contract eligibility.



Healthcare providers can choose from among the following services from GHX to help accelerate their use of GLNs and compliance with the pending sunrise dates for implementation: