November 2011

Supply chain efficiency, GTIN a package deal. Think outside the box for data standards ROI
Healthcare Purchasing News by Allen Esses

As healthcare moves to the adoption of GS1 data standards and specifically the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) Sunrise in 2012 I started thinking: Because a GTIN uniquely identifies a product at each packaging level (e.g., a blister of two aspirin tablets, a bottle of 100 aspirin tablets, etc.) will it really eliminate packaging errors in the healthcare supply chain? After some researching and looking at the data, this is what we found out.

July 2011

Healthcare Supply Chain to Data Standards: Where’s the beef?
Healthcare Purchasing News by Allen Esses

April 2011

Supply Data Standards Stitch Silver Lining to Budget Outlook
Healthcare Purchasing News by Rick Dana Barlow

"A key indicator in the progress of GLN adoption in healthcare is the approximately 200 manufacturers using a GLN to publish health system usable GTINs into the GDSN. While that is a microcosm of total manufacturers in healthcare, those 200 can represent a significant portion of a hospital’s spend.”  - Allen Esses Co-founder and President of DataPros for Healthcare

November, 2010

DataPros announces Certified Solution Provider status with GS1 Healthcare US
We are proud that our solutions vetted by GS1 and are recognized to meet their high industry standards.

Spend Management Solutions for the Healthcare Industry, Assessing "Best of Breed"
Paper by Robert Handfield, PhD
DataPros in a published paper by Dr Robert Handfield, Bank of America Distinguished University Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, College of Management.

October, 2010

Allen Esses, president DataPros, presented at the 2010 MedAssets Business & Technology Forum in Orlando, FL.
The forum brought together healthcare providers and suppliers from across the country to foster innovation and collaboration needed to thrive in a reformed healthcare environment. The ninth annual event is focused on identifying new solutions that can be brought to market quickly through MedAssets’ contract portfolio to help reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of patient care. “Achieving the goals of healthcare reform requires greater industry collaboration and transparency, both key focus areas of our annual Business & Technology Forum,” said John Bardis, chairman, president and CEO, MedAssets. “By working together with suppliers and our customers, we can foster innovation, introduce healthcare providers to new products and services that can help them improve their financial, clinical and operating results in a challenging environment.”

February 2010

The GDSN Early Adoption Group Report Published
DataPros for Healthcare was instrumental in the collaborative effort to produce the Early Adoption Group (EAG) Report that summarizes the results of the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) pilot program testing the implementation of GS1 standards in U.S. healthcare. DataPros gained valuable insight during the process and can assist manufacturers, GPOs, distributors or providers in assessing and/or implementing GS1 standards by the industry-accepted sunrise dates of 12/31/10 (GLN) and 12/31/12 (GTIN).

A major outcome of the report was a six phase approach to adoption:

1. Commit - executive sponsorship and organization wide awareness of benefits.
2. Assess – GAP analysis of existing and future attributes and system capability.
3. Select – Evaluate and subscribe to desired Data Pools.
4. Implement – data preparation and connection, customer/supplier coordination, training, maintenance and synchronization.
5. Transact – incorporate GS1 standards into business processes.
6. Maintain – regularly update for changes, monitor effectiveness and ROI.

Click to see the full GDSN EAG Report.

July, 2009

DataPros Enables Implementation of GS1 Standards in Healthcare
“We are excited to be working with GS1 Healthcare US on such an important initiative in the healthcare industry,” said Allen Esses, president of DataPros for Healthcare. “As a leading provider of data integration solutions and champions of data integrity, we embrace these standards and believe our expertise is a valuable asset for the future use of the Global Data Synchronization Network in healthcare.”  DOWNLOAD FULL PAPER.

July, 2009

DataPros Named as Member of the Early Adoption Group for adoption of GS1 Standards in Healthcare
DataPros for Healthcare has been named by GS1 Healthcare US as part of the Early Adoption Group (EAG) for adoption of the GS1 Standards in Healthcare. The EAG is made up of members from all arenas of the healthcare supply chain industry that will focus on implementing the Global Data Synchronization Network® (GDSN®) in order to share standardized healthcare product information. The GDSN initiative will ultimately ensure that all members in the healthcare supply chain utilize identical, current, and reliable product data. This will lead to improved patient safety, as well as supply chain efficiency. The EAG is working as a team to incorporate the use of the GDSN in daily electronic transactions. DataPros for Healthcare will be part of the presentation about the results at the GS1 Healthcare US meeting in Chicago, October 6 through 8, 2009. GS1 Healthcare US Press Release.

June 11, 2009

Gulf Coast Business Review Article “CONTENT IS KING”…  It’s no surprise that Tampa company DataPros for Healthcare likes to use a quote from Sherlock Holmes on its Web site. “The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession,” Holmes once said in one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s crime novels. Gathering and enhancing accurate, critical data for better decision making is the primary business for DataPros. But instead of doing it for Scotland Yard like Holmes, DataPros does it for hospitals and medical centers. Read Full Story in Gulf Coast Business Review.

April, 2009

DataPros for Healthcare Saves Hershey Medical Center $1M... pricePAL™ Software's Efficiency Gains Acceptance in the Market
A software tool developed by DataPros for Healthcare for Penn State University’s Hershey Medical Center saved the hospital more than $1 million in supply costs in the first year. “DataPros was able to work with us to develop a contracts and spend reporting tool that saved us time looking for contracts, and gave us data to correct pricing problems with vendors,” said James Rohacek, administrator of support services integration for the institution.

Since the initial development, DataPros for Healthcare has been able to gain acceptance in the market and improve the product with five other early adopters. “We have been able to leverage the success at Hershey with other major academic institutions to fully develop the contracts, spend analytic, and custom reporting features of the product,” explained Allen Esses, president of DataPros for Healthcare. “In the current cost savings environment, the appetite for this type of solution is stronger than ever.” Read Press Release.

March, 2008

"When You Need To Raise Some Dough." by Linda Robinson - AHRMM Supply Chain Strategies & Solutions…
Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough – understanding and achieving supply reimbursement can seem like hard work. Professionals in the supply chain are usually sandwiched between compliance, the CDM (charge master), and patient financial services. Materials managers are held hostage through endless discussions and waste time over a common statement “that supply isn’t billable”. It is not a secret that declining reimbursements are reason enough to become more sophisticated in the approach taken by supply managers toward financial management. Get the Full Story.

Item Master Cleanse. We were engaged by a major IDN to cleanse and consolidate their item, vendor, and contract master files to gain visibility into their supply chain purchases. Our approach reduced the number of items by 35%, removed duplicates, corrected Units of Measure for 30% of the items, uploaded the data, and provided a return on investment by creating a virtual corporate item master with insight into medical-surgical supply spend. Get the Full Story.

Vendor Master Cleanse. We were engaged by two merging hospitals to enable a corporate supply chain through cleansing and consolidating of the vendor master files. We cleansed the respective item masters to determine which vendors were tied to items, and then contacted individual vendors to verify names, addresses, and Tax ID’s. We identified 83 overlapping vendors by Tax ID, and created a 947 record cleansed Vendor Master for Accounts Payable. Get the Full Story.

pricePAL™ - Power of priceREPORTS™. We were engaged by a 500 bed teaching hospital to implement pricePAL™ to manage their contracts, and link accurate pricing to their item master. Using the powerful reporting engine of priceREPORTS™, they were able to achieve $1.1M in savings based on overpayments, better leveraging of the GPO, and contract compliance. Get the Full Story.

pricePAL™ - Power of Assessing Internal Price Parity [priceHUNTER™]. We were engaged by a three hospital consortium with 1,000 beds and a $50M supply spend to determine price variances across the three facilities. Using the powerful reporting engine of priceHUNTER™, we were able to identify 318 items where $309,917 in savings could be achieved immediately, and up to $1M recurring with additional levels of effort relative to data quality, contract compliance, and external price benchmarking. Get the Full Story.