Health Sciences North has received an international award for its recent implementation of a new supply management chain.
The hospital won the 2015 GHXcellence Rookie of the Year Award during the GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit, held May 23-25 in Austin Texas.
The award was presented to HSN by Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) a company specializing in healthcare supply management solutions.
“The GHXcellence Awards are a highlight of the Summit each year, an opportunity for GHX to recognize the professionals and organizations that are paving the way for true supply chain excellence in health care,” said Scott Kelley, vice-president of North America sales and marketing at GHX, in a press release. “These Canadian GHXcellence winners represent the best and the brightest in health care supply chain innovation and success, and I am honoured to recognize them as they facilitate transformation within the supply chain.”
This past year, HSN launched a new system of tracking and ordering various materials and supplies. Staff in the materials management department visit each clinical care unit of HSN to electronically track the movement of supplies and materials. Using new technology from GHX, this information is automatically forwarded in real time to the databases of HSN and its major distributors. The distributors can then automatically renew orders for supplies. New orders arrive at HSN, packaged for specific departments.
The new system increases productivity by automating key processes such as purchase orders, supplier acknowledgements, shipping notices and invoicing. Real time materials management can reduce or eliminate discrepancies in pricing for supplies and ensure a faster response time to back order situations. It provides greater control and visibility of our supply chain activities.
“Congratulations to the materials management team at HSN for receiving this international recognition,” said Joe Pilon, HSN’s senior vice-president and chief operating officer, in a press release. “We don’t often think about the importance of what happens in the loading bays of a hospital, but the ability of front-line staff to provide patient care depends so much on the people who order, receive, and deliver our supplies to the units. They have a huge role to play in how well a hospital functions, and our team is one of the best.”
