Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Publishes Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) for Its Entire U.S. Product Line to the GHX Health ConneXion(SM) Data Pool
Global medical device manufacturer expands relationship with GHX to streamline processes and provide trading partners with its standardized product data
LOUISVILLE, Colo., Sept. 20 -- In an effort to improve theaccuracy and efficiency of the healthcare supply chain, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics (Siemens) has published product data including GS1 Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) for its entire U.S. product line into the GHX Health ConneXionSM data pool. GHX Health ConneXion is the only data pool certified by GS1's Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN®) that is focused solely on healthcare. Authorized subscribers to the GDSN can now access product data standardized with GTINs for Siemens reagents and consumables that can be purchased via EDI in the U.S. Siemens and GHX are also actively working to publish GTINs for additional Siemens product lines in Australia and Europe.
Global healthcare suppliers are faced with numerous regulatory and market-driven requirements to publish product item data for a variety of purposes, including increased product visibility for improved patient safety, electronic transactions, contract compliance and reporting. For eight years, Siemens has published its product catalog to the GHX AllSource® content repository to facilitate e-commerce with its customers. By expanding its partnership with GHX through membership in the GHX Health ConneXion data pool, Siemens can now leverage its existing connectivity to GHX to provide customers and other trading partners with a single source of accurate and timely product information to meet both market-driven sunrise dates for the use of global data standards, and emerging regulatory initiatives, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) requirement to assign unique device identifiers (UDIs) to products.
"We have already established the necessary processes to publish product data to GHX through our work with AllSource. Therefore, participation in the GHX Health ConneXion data pool offers the most efficient means for us to provide our customers with data for additional purposes such as the GDSN and the pending UDI database," said Dietmar Hein, Head of Global e-Commerce for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. "Furthermore, because GHX is a trusted partner that is well established in the global healthcare community, we can be confident that our data and our customers' data are secure."
"Siemens' participation in the GHX Health ConneXion data pool represents a significant step in the healthcare industry's overall movement toward global standards adoption because the data that they have published is now available to all authorized organizations belonging to a GDSN-certified data pool," said Bruce Johnson, CEO of GHX. "As our data pool grows with the addition of new provider and supplier members, so too does the momentum of the industry toward a more efficient, cost-effective and secure supply chain."
About GHX
As the business hub for healthcare, Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) enables healthcare providers and suppliers in North America and Europe to reduce costs and improve margins by automating processes, reducing operating expenses and increasing knowledge-based decision making. Products and services include trading partner connectivity, order and contract management and validation, data synchronization, sales force automation and business intelligence. Equity owners of GHX are Abbott Exchange, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; B. Braun Medical Inc.; BD; Boston Scientific Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Covidien; C.R. Bard, Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.; GE Healthcare; HCA; Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.; McKesson Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Owens & Minor; Premier, Inc.; Siemens; University HealthSystem Consortium; and VHA Inc. For more information, visit www.ghx.com.
About Siemens
The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source - from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 48,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2009 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 11.9 billion euros and profit of around 1.5 billion euros. For further information please visit: http://www.siemens.com/healthcare.
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