PDU Recommendations
The Coalition for Healthcare eStandards
(CHeS) and Health Care ebusiness Collaborative (HCEC) have been
working together since 2003 to establish an open and neutral
utility for standardized and validated product information. The
focus of the product data utility (PDU) is on synchronizing
medical/surgical, laboratory and related commodities.
A meeting to form a PDU Organizing
Committee was held on February 3, 2005 in Charlotte, NC. The
kickoff meeting for the Healthcare Product Data Utility was
opened by Joe Pleasant of Premier with a brief discussion on
the purpose and goals of the meeting.
After introductions, each attendee gave a
brief statement about the PDU concept and their expectations.
There was unanimous support for the need for a Healthcare PDU
and commitment by the attendees to help facilitate that end.
Following are highlights of the meeting:
Craig Wigginton of Neoforma gave an overview of the CHeS/HCEC Joint
Feasibility Study, published in April 2003. Highlights of his
briefing included value propositions for healthcare and value
validations from other verticals, proposals for PDU principles,
data flow, data ownership, data usage, and next steps. A key
point is that the utility be an open and neutral non-profit
organization owned by and governed by industry participants
from across the supply chain.
Joe Pleasant of Premier then went into some additional detail on the role
of an organizing committee. According to the plan laid out in
the feasibility study, this group will establish the scope and
principles of the PDU, as well as a development plan, determine
financial requirements, obtain funding and select and appoint a
Board of Directors (BOD). The BOD must be balanced across
stakeholders in the healthcare supply chain. The BOD would
develop the RFP and engage a contractor to perform the product
data utility functions under the direction of the BOD. A
Technical Advisory Group would support the BOD to determine
product attributes, specifications, and advise on technical
best practices under the direction of a Technical Director, who
would be a PDU employee. Other key issues reviewed were the
principles, as outlined in the feasibility study, as well as
data ownership, and funding areas.
Colonel Don Buchwald gave a brief overview of a Department of Defense
(DoD) case for data synchronization and an industry product
data utility. Data Synchronization is a priority for DoD to
reduce wartime responsiveness, improve efficiencies in
peacetime hospitals and reduce the cost of healthcare delivery.
Deployments for war and other contingencies (natural disasters,
etc) are particularly challenging. Although DoD is piloting a
“proof of principle” PDU with Congressional
funding, they do not subscribe to nor promote any one solution.
They fully support the “industry” solution. DoD is
in full partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs on
data synchronization with the goal of a single federal catalog
for healthcare.
John Clarke of Science Application
International Corp. next gave a
briefing on the results of the DoD pilot program to date. He
included the goal and scope, as well as specific examples of
data disconnects in manufacturer name, product part number,
packaging, and description. Many attendees were able to
identify with the data disconnects and discussion was
generated. He also discussed the need for an audit tool to
ensure certified data is entered into the utility. Finally, he
closed describing an application called MEDitemLINK which has a
Google-type search capability that can link a product number
from a customer’s ordering site to the specific item page
on the manufacturer’s website. This is a value-added
service to the manufacturers who participate in the pilot PDU.
Open discussion ensued on the next steps
toward implementation. Concern was raised about potential
conflict of interest with members of the organizing committee
who may want to compete in responding to the RFQ. A signed
legal document stating neutrality during discussion was
recommended. It was also noted/discussed that the PDU would
house/provide only one core piece of service and that there
would remain a wide area of additional services to be provided
to customers for data aggregators, data hubs, and data
exchanges. Hospitals still have needs for services to assist
them in managing spending.
The First Data Bank model (from the
pharmaceutical industry) was discussed as a potential
method to emulate.
An Organizing Advisory Group (OAG) was
formed with the following members as minimum:
