Tag: supply chain

Commport Customer BC Clinical and Support Services (BCCSS) wins Supply Chain Organization of the Year

Commport would like to extend its congratulations to the BC Clinical and Support Services (BCCSS) organization for winning the Supply Chain Organization of the Year from the Healthcare Supply Chain Network (HSCN).

HSCN is Canada’s leading industry association for the promotion of healthcare supply chain standards and leading practices. The annual Supply Chain Organization of the Year award is granted to healthcare organizations that demonstrate excellence in teamwork, innovation, customer service, patient care and strategic planning.

BCCSS is committed to supply chain efficiency and to that end has been working with Commport on a number of initiatives aimed to support and improve their supply chain operations.  Working with both BCCSS and its vendor community, Commport is actively working to ensure that standards and best practices are in place. As a part of our efforts, we are working to on board more vendors to exchange electronic documents and are implementing a validation engine to ensure vendor conformance to the BCCSS requirements.

Effective data management using technologies such as EDI and the GDSN is a foundational requirement for all efficient healthcare supply chains and Commport is uniquely positioned to work with our customers to support their supply chain operations.

Congrats BCCSS!!! Keep up the great work!

About HSCN

Healthcare Supply Chain Network was established in 2002. It has since developed into a national, volunteer-based, not-for-profit network of healthcare providers and suppliers. HSCN is dedicated to identifying and implementing leading practices, enhancing members’ efficiency and effectiveness through professional development programs, and providing networking opportunities where supply chain professionals can share experiences and solutions to common challenges. Visit www.hscn.org

About BCCSS

Established in September 2015, BC Clinical and Support Services (BCCSS) Society’s mandate is to promote health in the province through coordinating, managing, and/or providing clinical, diagnostic and support services to BC’s health care system for the benefit of all users.  BCCSS’ Clinical Services Division includes BC’s Agency for Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the BC Provincial Blood Coordinating Office.  BCCSS’ Support Services Division includes Supply Chain, Accounts Payable, Technology Services, Payroll, Employee Records and Benefits, and Revenue Services

Come See Commport at HSCN 2018!

Each year the Healthcare Supply Chain Network (HSCN) hosts the annual HSCN conference, the preeminent event for healthcare supply chain professionals and leaders with the goal of advancing healthcare supply chain excellence. This year’s conference is being held May 14-16 2018 at the Delta Hotels Toronto Airport & Conference Centre.

In Canada, there remains a significant opportunity for improvement within healthcare supply chain management to deliver cost control, efficiency, automation and positive patient outcomes through the use of technologies that are heavily relied on in private sector markets such as retail.

These opportunities have been spelled out in reports such as the McKinsey Report, Strength in Unity: The promise of Global Standards in Healthcare and the Advancing Healthcare in Ontario: Optimizing the healthcare Supply Chain – A New Model from the Healthcare Sector Supply Chain Strategy Expert Panel, which provide a detailed roadmap for the adoption of Global Standards including the use of supply chain management technologies and identification marks and symbols within internal processes.  Commport’s suite of services including EDI processing, GDSN data synchronization and cloud based business intelligence and analytics provide the foundation on which these promises can be fulfilled.

Alongside Commport’s work with our customers to deliver on these promises, Commport is excited to attend and exhibit at HSCN2018. The sessions this year include topics such as Value Based Procurement, the role that Data can play to help identify and address supply chain problems, and global case studies that focus on driving value and innovation across the continuum of care.

Healthcare Supply Chain Network 2018

Additionally, this year, Commport’s customer BCCSS is being awarded with the HCN Supply Chain Organization of the Year award. The award will be presented to BCCSS as a part of the HSCN conference.

For more information about HSCN2018 please visit the Conference Website.

Drop by and visit Commport at Booth # 2

Updates from the GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago #5

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference in Chicago, continued…

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference Day 5: There is a large and growing industry globally in the manufacturing and distribution of counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs. In addition, countries and healthcare organizations need to be able to track and trace each drug and dose within their domains to ensure the patent receives the proper drug and dose and that the actual drug being administered is not past it’s expiry date AND was not subject to a drug recall. To accomplish this type of tracking there are a number of GS1 Global bar code standards that can be used to track the GTIN, expiration date, lot/batch number and serialization which assigns a unique number to each dose. Brazil has adopted these GS1 Global bar code standards and uses what is known as a DataMatrix or 2D bar code (which is square but not the same as a QR code used on consumer packaging). Brazil has a central government registry that tracks all clinical pharmaceuticals to ensure the drugs being administered are not counterfeit and to facilitate proper tracking and tracing for the accurate administration of each dose. Ms. Bianca Zimon Giacomini Ribeiro, Deputy Chief Adviser for International Affairs, National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (Anvisa), Brazil, presented an overview of how their administration tracks these drugs to ensure proper application and to ensure the drugs are not counterfeit.

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference Day 4 Updates

Click on the link to view her presentation: httpss://healthcare-event.gs1.org/sites/default/files/7_-_pharmaceutical_traceability_in_brazil_-_zimon.pdf

Updates from the GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago #4

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference in Chicago, continued…

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference in Chicago Day 4: Tuesday afternoon the focus changed to Cost Savings through Standards with 3 separate healthcare groups showcasing what they have done to reduce costs within their systems and how their technology and savings initiatives have generated very acceptable ROI on the investments they made. The first presentation was from Dr. Justin Bitter, Business Manager, Bernhoven Hospital, the Netherlands, another European view into healthcare best practices and the last two groups were from the US showcasing what can be done here in North America as presented by Cynthia Shumway, Director, Supply Chain Business Applications, Intermountain Healthcare, US and Matthew Mentel, Executive Director, Integrated Performance Solutions and Betty Jo Rocchio, VP, Perioperative Services from Mercy Health Network, US. Again, real-life examples of what is being done around the globe using GS1 Global standards and industry best practices.

Some of the Highlights of presentation,

Implementing(GS1) Global Traceability Standards for Healthcare solve:

•No visibility of goods availability

•Strongly dependency on employee knowledge

•High inventory costs

•Excessive loss (yearly expired sterile stock up to$ 150.000,-)

•Higher error probability

•Inadequate monitoring capabilities

•No full scale

•Search and cannot find

•Elimination of non-value adding activities

•Out of stock situations

Implementing(GS1) Global Traceability Standards for Healthcare yield benefits:

•Amplifying balance sheet of the hospital

•Track and trace supports current assets control

•Reduction of stock levels (25%)

•Reduction of expired products(80%)

•Lowering high indirect costs of staff

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference Day 3 Updates

Click on the link to view her presentation: httpss://healthcare-event.gs1.org/sites/default/files/panel_-_cost_savings_through_standards_master.pdf

Updates from the GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago #3

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference Chicago Day 3: There were 2 very compelling presentations from Wilfried Winzer, Director, University Hospital, Dresden, Germany and Kevin Downs, Director Finance and Keith Jones, Clinical Director of Surgery, from Derby Teaching Hospital, NHS, UK, that showcased leading-edge applications of GS1 Global standards, the usage of the GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network) to obtain clean synchronized brand owner product data and the use of advanced supply chain practices which together gave 2 similar, but unique real world pictures, of what healthcare can look like from supplier to use in hospitals and from patient admission to discharge. All these technologies exist today, many have for years now, and for Canada to improve our global healthcare ranking we need to follow their lead.

 

Some of the key highlights of the presentation:

 

Clear identification of medical products is a complex challenge for doctors and logistics

Medical products are more and more specialized on smaller therapeutic fields due to new, innovative developments

Example: STENTS

2006: 148 different stents were bought from 15 suppliers

2017: 749 different stents are bought from 31 suppliers

University hospital and industry

Challenge

Logistical efforts for optimal patient care with innovative medical products increased over the last years and will continue increasing

Counteractive measures

Reduction of efforts by using modern, electronically supported processes in procurement, distribution, storage, use, and documentation of medical products

Goals of EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR)

Transparency and reasonable access to information by using basic-UDI-DI/UDI-DI/UDI in:

  1. Product marking (direct marking)
  2. Technical documentation
  3. Certificate and declaration of conformity
  4. Brief report on security and clinical performance
  5. Implant identification document and patient information
  6. Downstream market reports (vigilance reports, PMCF, PSUR, Trend reports)
  7. Field Safety Corrective Action (Recall, Withdrawal, Advisory)
  8. Certificate of Free Sale

 

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference Day 4 Updates

Click on the link to view her presentation:  httpss://healthcare-event.gs1.org/sites/default/files/data_for_better_care.pdf

Updates from the GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago #2

GS1 Global Healthcare Conference – Chicago

Why UK is Ranked #1 - Quality of Care for Cost of Service

GS1 Conference Chicago Day 2 Updates: Canada is ranked #9 globally out of 11 in an overall ranking of health care systems in the Commonwealth Fund developed nations 2014 ranking. However, this ranking isn’t due to lack of spending, we are ranked #7 out of 11 on healthcare expenditures per capita – in the middle of the pack. Part of our lower overall rating relates to “Quality Care” as we scored low in the categories of Safe Care, Coordinated Care, and Patient-Centered Care.  No surprise to any Canadian, we also scored at the very bottom of the list for Timeliness of Care.

The UK, which scored at the top of the list, is actively working to make further improvements.  A major presentation on day 1 in Chicago centered on quality care and patient safety using barcoding with track and traceability systems which are used in the UK, Australia, Germany, and other countries. Four UK Healthcare Trusts (small regional groups) presented very interesting presentations on supply chain wins and how they track every patient and everything that they receive from entry to exit by using GS1 Global bar codes and standards.

Representatives from 4 UK Trusts presented detailed case studies on how they are each utilizing GS1 Global standards to improve patient care and efficiency.

  • Keith Jones, Clinical Director of Surgery, Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK identified the key benefits of using GS1 Global standards.  These included error-free trading, better stock management, faster processing and payments, improving patient safety through preventing counterfeit medicines, recall processes, and improving clinical productivity to allow for more time caring for patients.
  • Lorna Wilkinson, the Director of Nursing at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, UK, gave a nurse's perspective highlighting how product tracking is improving patient safety while reducing the time nurses and hospital staff need to spend on managing expiry dates, product recalls, and re-ordering stock.
  • Iain Davidson, Chief Pharmacist & CCIO at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, UK provided insight into how barcodes and GTINs are helping reduce medication-related harm by reducing administration errors by 23% after only 1 year and 66% after 5 years.

To see the full presentation follow this link: httpss://healthcare-event.gs1.org/sites/default/files/5_panel_healthcare_professionals_-_different_viewpoints.pdf

Commport Communications International, inc. Supports Expert Panel Recommendations for Ontario’s Healthcare Sector Supply Chain

Commport support expert panel recommendations:

AURORA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 16, 2017) - As a leading provider of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and as the only certified Canadian Global Data Synchronization Network data pool, Commport Communications International, inc. ("Commport") was pleased today with the recommendations of the government-appointed Expert Panel in their review of Ontario's Healthcare Sector Supply Chain. Commport support expert panel recommendations.

"We commend Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care for recognizing the need for modernization in the provincial healthcare sector supply chain," said Dave Ralph, founder, and CEO of Commport. "We had the privilege of sharing our views with the panel, and look forward to working with the ministry on implementation."

The Strength in Unity report released by McKinsey in 2012 called for faster adoption of both digital technology and global standards for supply chain automation and inventory management in healthcare. The report went on to highlight that the retail sector is currently 30 years ahead of healthcare, and that the lack of supply chain efficiency and automation is having a negative effect on government budgets and public health.

"Our EDI technology could save hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the provincial health budget overnight and without any direct costs to the public system," said Dave. "In addition, our GDSN data pool service leverages global standards in product content and supply chain management and would update Ontario's procurement systems daily with clean data."

Commport is a growing Ontario-based company and a key contributor to the province's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cluster. Commport was started in 1985 by Dave Ralph and currently supports over 50 direct jobs in Aurora. Today the company is partnered with 75 Ontario hospitals, other sub-national North American governments, crown corporations, large and small retailers and thousands of their suppliers.

Ready to find out more?

Drop us a line today for a free quote!

Commport Supply Chain Solutions

10th Annual Healthcare Supply Chain Conference 2017

10th annual healthcare national supply chain’s conference and exhibition The Leading Edge of New Horizons, is designed for senior management, executives, decision makers and professionals integral to improving supply chain efficiencies.

The 10th annual healthcare conference runs from May 15-17 and offers excellent opportunities for healthcare supply chain professionals and caters specifically to the Canadian market. Commport is very excited to be a sponsor and part of the annual conference.

Come by and visit us at Booth #12

Commport has over 30 years of history in the North American EDI & GDSN industry and since the launch of CommCARE Health Solutions we have been powering our way through the Canadian Healthcare marketplace.

The HSCN conference is the “must attend” event within the healthcare supply chain community and is an excellent way to hear about and discuss current issues and leading practice innovation within the industry while networking with colleagues across the country and connection with your suppliers at our exhibition.

Hospital and health systems are in a unique position to streamline supply chain operations within the evolving value-based health care system priorities for quality patient care, enhanced patient outcomes and cost saving solutions. Opportunities to re-evaluate and drive innovative operation models will require collaboration to drive the next level of supply chain savings.

For more information on The Healthcare Supply Chain Network Annual Conference 

2017 MEDEC MedTech Conference – Unleashing Innovation

The 2017 MEDEC MedTech Conference is MEDEC’s annual signature conference for the medtech industry. This year the event is held from Wednesday, April 5 to Thursday April 6 at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel & Conference Centre.

Commport is this years lanyard sponsor and exhibitor. See you there!

To register or sponsor the annual conference visit MEDEC’s website here

2017 MEDEC not-to-be-missed annual conference for the medical technology and healthcare industry. Attendees will hear from and engage with high-profile health system leaders and network with colleagues. This year’s conference will once again play host to dignitaries and influential thought leaders from across various facets of healthcare and government.

The conference outline is currently under development with confirmed speakers, including:

Who should attend?

  • General Managers, Presidents, CEOs and Vice Presidents
  • Marketing Directors / Associates and Product Managers
  • Business Development Directors / Associates
  • Government Relations Directors / Associates
  • Regulatory Affairs Associates of all Levels
  • QA Managers / Associates
  • Legal Counsel
  • Healthcare System Leaders
  • Health Technology Assessment Agencies

Medtech Canada is the national association representing the medical technology industry in Canada. Our association advocates for achieving patient access to leading edge, innovative technology solutions that provide valuable outcomes. Our members are committed to providing safe and innovative medical technologies that enhance the quality of patient care, improve patient access to health care, and help enable the sustainability of our health care system. The medical technology industry in Canada employs over 35,000 Canadians in approximately 1,500 facilities across the country.

What The Heck Is Supply Chain Transformation?

What the Heck Is Supply Chain Transformation?

Supply chain transformation has been the buzz phrase in the Healthcare world for some time now, but what the heck is it?  The answer to this depends on who you are talking to.

Supply Chain TransformationThe traditional supply chain involved the movement of goods from supplier to demander, so from manufacturer to retailer, or manufacturer to distributor, or distributor to retailer and so on.  These physical supply chain activities are governed by the whole procure-to-pay transactions sets, paper or electronic, of purchase order, invoice and final payment. Certain experts in Healthcare have proposed to extend this supply chain definition to include the patient as the final demander and so the supply chain extends to the hospital room and patients Electronic Health Record (EHR/EMR).

This theoretical extension to the patient and patient record has taken the attention of many, when in fact the traditional supply chain in healthcare today for the most part lies stuck in the 1980’s.  This needs to be fixed before the extension can be addressed.  In Canada less than 30% of purchase orders are delivered electronically resulting in needless paper processing that is adding billions of dollars to healthcare costs.  These costs are hidden in the back office and result in increased product costs from manufacturers.

In the modern retail world 100% of issued purchase orders are delivered electronically and thus invoicing is returned in the same format.  Then an auto-match-pay process eliminates all the paper processing saving that industry many 10’s of billions of dollars annually.

In fact, Gartner estimates the COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked digital adoption by five years. While the healthcare industry has made great progress in automating supply chain processes, COVID-19 illustrated that large gaps in procure-to-pay automation remain. Moving forward, the healthcare industry must bring even greater levels of automation to the procure-to-pay cycle. One area of focus for both providers and suppliers will be to speed the adoption of electronic invoicing and payments. This will reduce the costs associated with manual processes and enable more fluid decision-making around cash management

A recent survey by EY found that improved supply chain visibility is the number one business priority during the next three years. To achieve this, healthcare must fix its data issues. The first step is to establish a modern data strategy that integrates and normalizes data across multiple stakeholders and ensures it is clean, accurate and can flow easily across systems

Gartner forecasts the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market will reach $44 billion by 2022, with much of that growth driven by the adoption of cloud-based systems. In healthcare, moving to a cloud-based ERP system enables real-time integration with other cloud-based systems, such as electronic health records and accounts payable. By linking the supply chain with financial and clinical systems, organizations can better assess how supply choices influence total cost of care, revenue and reimbursement, safety, quality and the patient experience. However, cloud-based ERP systems are only as valuable as the data that power them. In developing a cloud ERP strategy, healthcare organizations must find a technology partner with healthcare and supply chain expertise to ensure that the supply chain data powering the ERP system will provide the insight necessary to improve patient outcomes and lower the cost of care.

Key Drivers of Supply Chain Transformation

Several factors are driving the need for supply chain transformation in today’s business landscape. Here are some key drivers:

  1. Technological Advancements: Rapid advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics have revolutionized supply chain operations. Integrating these technologies into the supply chain can unlock new levels of visibility, automation, and efficiency.
  2. Changing Consumer Expectations: Customers today expect fast, reliable, and personalized experiences. To meet these expectations, businesses need to optimize their supply chains to enable faster order processing, seamless omnichannel experiences, and real-time visibility into product availability.
  3. Globalization: With expanding markets and complex global networks, supply chains have become more intricate. Supply chain transformation helps businesses navigate complexities such as cross-border logistics, diverse regulatory requirements, and cultural differences, enabling them to compete effectively in the global marketplace.
  4. Sustainability and Social Responsibility: The increasing focus on sustainability and social responsibility has prompted businesses to transform their supply chains. By adopting environmentally friendly practices, reducing waste, and ensuring ethical sourcing, companies can meet the growing demands for sustainable and socially responsible products.

Ready to find out more about Commport Supply Chain Solutions?

Drop us a line today for a free quote!

Commport Supply Chain Solutions