Freeman Named 'Best 50' for Supply Chain Excellence

Freeman Health System is named one of the “Best 50” by Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX®). Founded in 2000, GHX uses cloud-based supply chain management technology and services to reduce costs, remove waste and drive efficiency for better patient care.

“All of our purchase orders are now done electronically, which saves employees time by not having to make phone calls and send faxes,” said Bob Essner, Freeman Director of Materials Management. “This not only helps us avoid human error, it ensures we’re paying the right price for a product. It also allows us to respond to backorders more quickly.”

To select the “Best 50,” GHX looked at the performance of more than 4,000 hospitals in the United States and Canada currently connected to the GHX electronic trading exchange. GHX identified the healthcare organizations that scored highest in areas such as purchasing and invoice volume, exception rates, exchange utilization and trading partner connections during the 2015 calendar year.

Recipients will be honored at the 2016 GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit May 23 – 25 in Austin, Texas. The GHX Healthcare Supply Chain Summit is the largest healthcare event that brings together both the buy and sell sides of the healthcare supply chain to learn, share and discuss new ways to improve the business of healthcare and reduce costs.

Freeman is ranked in the “Best 50” with 49 other providers, including The University of Chicago Medicine; UCLA HealthCare; University of California, San Francisco; Virginia Mason Medical Center; and Yale-New Haven Health Services.

About Freeman Health System
Locally owned, not-for-profit and nationally recognized, Freeman Health System includes Freeman Hospital West, Freeman Hospital East, Freeman Neosho Hospital and Ozark Center – the area’s largest provider of behavioral health services – as well as two urgent care clinics, dozens of physician clinics and a variety of specialty services. For 2016, Freeman earned dozens of individual awards for medical excellence and safety from CareChex®, a quality rating system that helps consumers evaluate healthcare providers. U.S. News & World Report ranked Freeman one of the top Hospitals in Southwest Missouri more than four years in a row, and The Leapfrog Group gave Freeman the highest grade possible in the Fall 2015 Hospital Safety Score. With more than 300 physicians on staff representing more than 60 specialties, Freeman provides cancer care, heart and vascular care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics, children’s services and women’s services. Additionally, Freeman is the only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in a 70-mile radius. For more information, visit freemanhealth.com or facebook.com/freemanhealthsystem or follow Freeman President and Chief Executive Officer Paula Baker at twitter.com/freemanceo.