What Makes Us Different?

"We joined HealthTrust Purchasing Group in March 2005 and have been very happy with the results. In coming to the decision to change GPO's, we completed a very rigorous and detailed analysis of HealthTrust’s model and found it was a very good fit. In addition to having the best pricing available in healthcare, we have been extremely impressed with the strong clinical commitment in the contracting process and the focus they bring in helping us meet our goals."

Tim G. Marlette
VP - Chief Purchasing Officer
Community Health Systems

The US healthcare industry spends $200+ billion annually in medical and non-medical products with more than 70% allocated through a GPO. To distinguish ourselves as the leading solution for the growing purchasing needs of healthcare providers, we focus on four key areas:

• Reducing operating costs
• Providing a broader portfolio of products/services
• Industry-leading vendor relationships
• Unsurpassed ethics and compliance

Through our purchasing efforts, you can remain focused on the improvement of quality patient care. We provide what patients’ need while under your care and then ask you for their feedback so we can - together - meet their expectations.

HealthTrust Serves Each Member As Though They Were Our Only Member

HealthTrust focuses on meeting the unique day-to-day needs of its members. Each member instantly becomes a major participant in our GPO receiving superior supplies, services and benefits.

Reducing Operating Costs

• Membership Fees: Unlike some GPOs, we do not charge membership fees. As our members utilize our contracted products and services, we receive administrative fees from our vendors. These fees will not exceed the 3% allowable under Medicare reporting guidelines and are disclosed annually to members.  
• Best Practices:  In addition to our products and services portfolio, HealthTrust has developed with its membership a database of best practice ideas to reduce supply costs. These ideas go beyond price savings and focus on reducing the utilization of supplies in high cost areas of the hospital.
• Commitment-Driven Contracts: HealthTrust contracts are aggressively negotiated based upon our members’ commitment levels and guarantees extensive cost savings. Recent market analysis indicates our members receive a 5-20% discount over other GPOs’ prices for pharmaceuticals, capital equipment and non-clinical products

All HealthTrust members - from the small, rural hospital to a large ambulatory surgery center - have access to the same pricing

Every new member to HealthTrust is assigned an account representative from our Member Services Team. These professionals are responsible for creating a custom implementation/conversion schedule that represents the member’s needs and ensures a smooth transition to our products and services portfolio. Once converted, they continually work with the member to ensure usage of our portfolio is maximized and all benefits available are being received.

Vendor Rebates

In addition to HealthTrust’s overall great pricing, several contracted products and services have attached rebates , the vast majority of which are earned simply by using contracted product . Our members-only website, SCRUBS, provides access to a centralized rebate tracking system. On a monthly basis, members are informed of the exact rebate amount they should receive, the specific vendor/contract number that yielded the rebate and the timeframe within which the rebate was earned.

Partner in Technology

HealthTrust, through our exclusive partnership with Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), is expanding its technology offering to include more comprehensive purchasing history information and compliance reporting thereby improving our members' ability to manage overall purchasing processes and costs.

Industry's Best Pricing

Due to the commitment of its membership, HealthTrust has the industry's best pricing for supplies, pharmaceuticals, capital equipment and non-clinical products. Each HealthTrust member will have access to the same pricing, regardless of it's size.

Providing a Broader Portfolio of Products and Services

Regardless of significant cost savings, our product portfolio must be of the highest quality in order to serve you best. To guarantee the breadth, depth and quality of our products, HealthTrust leads eight Clinical Advisory Boards:

• Nursing
• Pharmacy
• Food & Nutrition
• Laboratory
• Radiology
• Surgery
• Information Systems
• Materials Management

These boards are a cross-section of nurses, doctors, clinicians and hospital management from our member facilities. They provide continual guidance and direction on the practical usability and desirability of all products in our portfolio.

With input from our Clinical Advisory Boards, our National Agreements Team can better negotiate towards the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. While most products and services are offered through only a few contracted vendors, we recognize that physician preference areas - i.e., cardiovascular and orthopedics - must be handled differently. Because the selection of appropriate medical devices for excellent quality care should be left to the physician, we offer a broader contract selection in these areas.

Industry-Leading Vendor Relationships

We seek to establish and maintain relationships with vendors who can provide the quality and type of products our members’ need at a price reflective of our commitment levels. Currently, our portfolio represents approximately 200 individual vendor relationships and 300,000+ products. Typically negotiated on a 2-3-year contract terms -- as opposed to the 5-year contracts seen by other GPOs - we can more readily assess new and innovative products while continuing to foster long-term vendor relationships.

Category of Contracts Available

Our contracts cover commodities, pharmaceuticals, capital equipment and non-clinical products. Additionally, we provide a wide range of contracts for energy programs, IT&S Administrative contracts, as well as optional contracts for outsourcing programs including pharmacy, dietary, housekeeping and other administrative areas.

Leading Vendor Relationships

By contracting with only the top healthcare companies, our members are proud of the contracts they can offer to their clinicians, physicians, and materials managers. Members have access to products provided by GE, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Baxter, Medline, St. Jude Medical, as well as many other industry-leading providers of medical products and technologies.

Unsurpassed Ethics and Compliance

In recent years, the integrity of healthcare GPOs has been under intense scrutiny. Our continued dedication to excellence is demonstrated through implementation of the most stringent ethics and compliance programs.

As a demonstration of our commitment to you, we stipulate:

• We have appointed a full-time Ethics and Compliance Officer (ECO)
• We do not have financial investments in any of our suppliers
• Officers do not have, nor do they accept, stock or options from any supplier - contracted or non-contracted
• We have no private venture capital funds or research services
• We do not accept or collect administrative fees in excess of the 3% allowable by OIG Safe Harbor Guidelines
• We do not accept company stock from any suppliers in exchange for administrative fees
• We have no investment in and make no payments to GHX, our contracted electronic commerce company
• We do not provide any private label products

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