Global Healthcare Exchange believes its recent acquisition of vendor credentialing firm Vendormate will rest easy with suppliers, many of whom already conduct business with GHX.
“GHX is already a trusted source for accurate and validated data on products – pricing, contracts, catalogs, etc.,” says Don Spence, vice president, business development. “The acquisition extends that to include vendor information – sourcing, credentialing, onboarding, etc.
Founded in 2000 by Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare, Baxter International Inc., Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic Inc., GHX facilitates electronic interchange among trading partners. The company provides suppliers and providers procurement and accounts payable automation; content, contract and inventory management services; and business intelligence and reporting. The company will operate Vendormate as a wholly owned subsidiary.
The combination of GHX and Vendormate will lower costs associated with vendor management, says Spence.
“Reducing vendor management cost for both providers and suppliers has a lot to do with process automation and the use of quality data,” he says. “Both are part of the value proposition for this acquisition. For instance, providers benefit by being able to integrate credentialing into their broader procure-to-pay solution; avoid risk (related to reimbursement); and gain greater visibility into contracts while helping ensure right price, a key to reducing cost in healthcare. Suppliers benefit from a broadly deployed credentialing platform with hospitals knowing they are credentialed. The integration with GHX solutions also goes even further in helping to reduce discrepancies, which today adds cost to suppliers.”
But will the acquisition help manufacturers and distributors tolerate the vendor credentialing process any more than they do today? Spence says yes.
“What we believe suppliers resent is a perception that credentialing limits their ability to sell, but get frustrated by the many different credentialing requirements implemented across the industry. Today there is no industry standard approach, and that makes it challenging, and expensive, for suppliers. However, based on our discussions with many suppliers, they also understand that there are legitimate patient safety issues that credentialing is able to mitigate.
“GHX …can bring consistency around data elements that will help suppliers more easily respond to this industry requirement. Feedback on the deal from our supplier customers is very positive.”