VHA to Showcase Enhanced Analytics That Help Hospitals Accelerate Cost Reduction Efforts at AHRMM 2010 Conference

IRVING, TX–(Marketwire – August 2, 2010) – VHA Inc., the national health care network, will showcase its VHA SupplyLYNX™ portal and its array of analytics offerings at the annual meeting of the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management Conference on August 1-4, in Denver.

VHA SupplyLYNX offers hospitals the ability to analyze every aspect of their purchasing activities for both products and services and gives them the data they need to accelerate the pace at which hospitals can reduce spending and maximize contract savings.

“VHA SupplyLYNX enables hospitals to fully optimize data throughout the organization and delivers unparalleled insight into the hospital’s performance,” said Scott Downing, executive vice president, Supply Chain Management at VHA. “Cost reduction is a daily focus and is essential to offset anticipated cuts in Medicare reimbursement that will decrease hospital revenues and potentially stifle the bottom line.”

In addition to the recently introduced VHA SupplyLYNX Web portal, attendees can participate in demonstrations of VHA PriceLYNX™ 2.0, the industry’s leading price benchmarking service. VHA PriceLYNX provides benchmarking analysis that arms decision makers with factual information that enables the organization to view long- and short-term market trends and respond to immediate price fluctuations. Ultimately, this information better equips the purchasing team during vendor negotiations. From January 2009 through June 2010, members using VHA PriceLYNX have identified an average savings of $4 million per quarter. 

AHRMM marks the public debut of VHA PriceLYNX mobile. VHA anticipates that mobile access via devices such as smart phones will give hospital personnel the opportunity to make faster decisions when it comes to switching products or accessing lower pricing on the products they already purchase. VHA recently launched its VHA SupplyLYNX mobile platform, built in conjunction with McLean, Va.-based MicroStrategy, to provide mobile access to its suite of analytical products and services. 

“Beginning with our leadership around data standards and e-commerce in 2001, VHA has led other analytics competitors by providing accurate, timely and actionable supply chain information to members, backed by the largest data set in health care,” continued Downing. “What sets us apart is our core belief in price transparency, a data warehouse that provides superior accuracy and a categorization methodology that ensures quality reporting every time.”

About VHA — VHA Inc., based in Irving, Texas, is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance and identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes. In 2009, VHA delivered record savings and value of $1.47 billion to members. Formed in 1977, through its 16 regional offices, VHA serves more than 1,400 hospitals and more than 28,000+ non-acute care providers nationwide. VHA was ranked by Modern Healthcare as the 7th best place to work in health care in 2009.