Premier healthcare alliance expert's efforts to enhance patient safety receives recognition from DoD

Nov 11 2009

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has recognized a Premier healthcare alliance expert for his efforts to enhance patient safety while reducing healthcare costs.

Premier Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Joe Pleasant was honored for his work in advocating for the implementation of consistent global data standards in the healthcare supply chain that would reduce costs, increase efficiencies and improve patient safety. Pleasant’s championship of the adoption of healthcare standards has led to a greater industry awareness of the benefits across the entire supply chain, which include the acceleration of a unique device identification (UDI) system, a uniform, national numbering system that enables more accurate bar coding or other electronic forms of tracking medical devices.

Colonel Marsha Langlois, director, Medical Supply Chain, Defense Logistics Agency, and Kathleen Garvin, chief, Collective Customer Division, Medical Supply Chain, Defense Logistics Agency honored Pleasant on November 4 at Premier’s annual employee conference outside of Charlotte, N.C.

In a letter of recognition to Pleasant, Ellen P. Embrey, deputy assistant secretary of Defense Force Health Protection and Readiness and performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs said: “During the hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, it became clear how critical having clean, standard, synchronized product data is to providing support to our service members in theater. In addition, we understand the efficiencies that can be achieved in the day-to-day support of our military in our Medical Treatment Facilities here in the United States.”

Continued Embrey, “Thank you for your tireless effort, foresight, tenacity, and deep commitment to healthcare supply chain standards that will benefit DoD and the nation's healthcare industry for years to come.”

Although the majority of products in America, from peanut butter to bolts and screws, have standardized, synchronized data that facilitates product tracking through bar coding, no such uniform data standards system exists for medical devices. This means that patients today face a significant risk that a recalled medical device or product could be inadvertently used in their treatment because of the inability to rapidly locate it in the hospital.

The FDA Amendment Act of 2007 outlines a requirement for the healthcare industry to implement a UDI system, and the recent United States House health reform legislation requires the FDA to issue these regulations to implement an UDI system no later than six months after enactment.

Premier and Pleasant have worked side by side with the DoD to expound the need for and benefits of data standards and synchronization in the healthcare industry. When DoD launched its data synchronization pilot program in 2002 to improve the DoD’s healthcare supply chain, reduce costs and ultimately to better support the war fighter, Premier supported these government efforts through industry outreach and educational activities. Through the program, the DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs have saved more than $41 million to date through product price reductions and moved more than $25 million in purchases to more efficient e-commerce vehicles. Premier also participates in a separate DoD-sponsored industry pilot of the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) as a framework for a healthcare product data utility that could transmit consistent, accurate and synchronized supply chain data.

Premier has long been an advocate of a UDI system to improve patient safety by facilitating device recalls and improving medical device adverse event reporting. Premier’s Purchasing Partners division was the first healthcare group purchasing organization to endorse the use of standards to allow for definitive identification of medical products and devices. It is also a member of the Advancing Patient Safety Coalition, comprised of hospital, physician, nursing, research, quality and patient advocacy organizations committed to improving safety processes for our nation's hospitals and the patients they serve.

Premier conducted a survey of clinical professionals nationwide to decipher methods used in healthcare settings to record and track information on medical devices. High level findings from this survey include:

• More than 80 percent of respondents stated that a national UDI system would enhance patient safety.
• When recalls occur, nearly all hospitals are conducting manual searches of records or logs to identify patients who received a recalled device or product.

For more information, visit the Premier Safety Institute.