COALITION FOR HEALTHCARE E-STANDARDS AND HIGPA JOIN FORCES TO ESTABLISH SINGLE
GPO VOICE FOR SUPPLY CHAIN DATA STANDARDS
ANN ARBOR, MI - June 24, 2008 – The Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA), the preeminent
organization that advocates on behalf of healthcare group purchasing
organizations (GPOs), and the Coalition for Healthcare eStandards (CHeS), the
leading industry-wide standards advocacy organization, are combining their
efforts whereby a new CHeS will serve as a committee under HIGPA.
Effective July 1, 2008, the two organizations will enter a new agreement that
allows the work of CHeS to continue under the management structure of HIGPA.
CHeS will legally dissolve on June 30, 2008 and formally become a committee
under the auspices of HIGPA at that time.
Curtis Rooney, HIGPA President, said, “CHeS is a remarkable organization that has brought the industry together to
develop and promote the use of open data standards that make the healthcare
system more efficient and safer for patients. With its impressive standards
knowledge and proven track record, CHeS will make a strong addition to HIGPA’s ongoing work on behalf of GPOs.”
Joe Pleasant, Chair, CHeS Board, adds, “Becoming part of HIGPA is a natural next step in the progression of CHeS, and a
win-win for both organizations. The new CHeS will be more strongly positioned
to help the nation’s hospitals—via their GPO—to accelerate their efforts in implementing the standards needed to increase
efficiencies, reduce costs and improve patient safety. HIGPA will be able to
leverage and advance the progress made by CHeS by ensuring the GPOs have the
tools they need to drive standards implementation among their hospital members.”
Since its founding in year 2000, CHeS has been on the forefront of the
healthcare supply chain standards movement. Bringing together providers,
manufacturers, distributors, GPOs, materials management information system
vendors and e-commerce companies, CHeS researched global best practices and, as
a result, endorsed many standards being incorporated now in the healthcare
supply chain, including the Global Location Number™ (GLN™), the Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®), the United Nations Standards Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®), and the recommended “product data utility” for healthcare, the Global Data Synchronization Network® (GDSN®). CHeS has also created work groups to track and communicate standards pilots,
including the national GLN pilot and the U.S. Department of Defense GDSN pilot,
and has most recently endorsed the use of global standards [from GS1®] for healthcare.
Also active in the standards movement, HIGPA endorsed the GLN in 2004. Additionally, many current HIGPA members were core members of CHeS, including
Amerinet, MedAssets, Novation and Premier.
It is anticipated that the new CHeS will continue to participate in industry
activities related to the adoption of supply chain standards, serving on work
committees of the newly formed GS1 Healthcare US™ along with other member organizations, including the Association of Healthcare
Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), the recently merged Healthcare Supply Chain
Standards Coalition (HSCSC), and the Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI).
“The important work of CHeS will continue, under a new umbrella” says Peggy Brody, Executive Director of CHeS. “Getting the GPOs on the same page with regard to standards, and getting their
participation as a single voice, will accelerate the benefits to hospitals of
adopting and using global standards. At the end of the day, using standards is
all about improving safety for the patient.”
The new HIGPA CHeS Committee will be funded out of separate HIGPA membership
dues assessed to participating GPO members of HIGPA. The GPO members will appoint a representative to the new CHeS that reports to
the HIGPA Board.
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About CHeS
The Coalition for Healthcare eStandards, Inc., (CHeS) is a collaborative of
organizations dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of open data
standards in the health care industry. Through the work of task forces, CHeS
makes recommendations to accelerate industry-wide adoption of comprehensive
data standards and encourages other industry representatives to participate in
e-commerce standards work groups.
About HIGPA
The Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) is a broad-based trade
association that represents 19 group purchasing organizations, including
for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, public purchasing groups,
associations, multi-hospital systems and healthcare provider alliances. HIGPA’s mission is to advocate on behalf of health care group purchasing associations,
to provide educational opportunities designed to improve efficiencies in the
purchase, sale and utilization of all goods and services within the health
industry and to promote meaningful dialogue between GPOs. For more information,
visit the
HIGPA website.