Two of Canada’s most respected and highly successful group purchasing organizations are coming together to offer an unparalleled service for capital equipment and food & nutrition procurement.
Medbuy Corporation and St. Joseph’s Health System Group Purchasing Organization are pleased to announce a joint venture designed to integrate the unique strengths of both organizations and that will drive best value contracts for Canadian healthcare providers.
“St. Joseph’s and Medbuy have always enjoyed a long-standing informal relationship,” notes Brian Guest, CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System. “Today, however, the focus on healthcare supply chain integration is far more acute than it was 20 years ago when Medbuy and St. Joseph’s GPOs were formed. Borrowing from our mutually held and successfully proven philosophy that healthcare organizations are stronger when they work together, our joint venture is an important and necessary step if we are going to further advance strategic sourcing and procurement practices in healthcare and bring even greater value to the members and hospitals we serve.”
The joint venture represents a blending of the services St. Joseph’s has developed for its members and hospital customers over the past 20 years with the best practices and offerings developed by Medbuy through its subsidiary corporation, MedAlliance.
“Each organization has had considerable success in developing a broad range of services,” notes Rick Cochrane, President & CEO of Medbuy. “Taking the best of those programs and enhancing them by working together will create an unsurpassed offering in the marketplace.”
Joint venture operations will be led by Leslie McGill, Medbuy’s Chief Business Development Officer & President of MedAlliance, and Jay Ayres, Director, Group Purchasing Organization and Materiel Management at St. Joseph’s who, in turn, report to the CEOs of Medbuy and SJHS, respectively.
Day-to-day joint venture procurement activities will be managed from the St. Joseph’s, GPO offices in Brantford, Ontario under the leadership Jay Ayres. Medbuy will provide data management and reporting expertise as well as a market research program supported by Father Sean O’Sullivan Research Centre, a part of the St. Joseph’s Health System Research Network.
“Each organization brings a particular strength to the table,” notes McGill. “And we are poised to enhance those strengths by working together to offer a comprehensive service for current and future members and customers.”
Within the Capital Equipment Portfolio, the joint venture will offer a variety of programs to meet the wide ranging needs of hospitals and health authorities from coast to coast. “Services already available through SJHS-GPO, from comprehensive consulting-style RFPs for complex pieces of capital to a simple-to-use e-procurement tool for minor capital, offer flexibility and a number of program options for members and customers,” notes Ayres. Existing members of both the SJHS-GPO and Medbuy will continue to receive programs currently available along with an opportunity to receive enhanced or additional services through the Joint Venture.
The Food & Nutrition Portfolio currently offered by St. Joseph’s will be expanded to a national offering by the joint venture partners in 2009 for launch in 2010. “Food services are quite complex and highly regionalized,” notes Ayres. “We’ll be taking the best of what we have built in southern Ontario and will work with manufacturers, brokers and distributors to ensure a strong national program.”
Members and customers of both Medbuy and St. Joseph’s will be engaged in the process as the joint venture evolves. “The strength of a GPO is predicated on the involvement of its members and customers,” says McGill. “We are committed to involving our customers in this process and to seeking the feedback and input of the supplier community as well. This approach will ensure success.”
About St. Joseph’s Health System Group Purchasing Organization
St. Joseph’s Health System, Group Purchasing Organization (SJHS-GPO) works together with healthcare facilities, manufacturers, and distributors to create effective supply chain management opportunities to increase efficiencies and save dollars for its members.
Since 1992, the Capital Program membership has grown to more than 160 academic health centres, community hospitals and long term care facilities across Canada. The key to the program’s ongoing success is the proven ability to combine capital equipment requirements from many hospitals and long term care facilities in a timely, efficient and organized manner to amalgamate volumes and maximize savings for members, other healthcare organizations, and the vendor community.
The St. Joseph’s Health System, Food & Nutrition Program is currently comprised of 24 facilities throughout Southern Ontario. Relationships with manufacturers, brokers and distributors are paramount to the success of the Program which includes a combination of rebate programs and competitive industry pricing.
About Medbuy Corporation
Medbuy is Canada’s largest healthcare Group Purchasing Organization, harnessing the purchasing power of 35% of Canada's hospitals and healthcare organizations.
We deliver the best net price for healthcare supplies and pharmaceuticals at the lowest cost, and secure value-added benefits that enhance our Members' knowledge base.
Medbuy helps healthcare organizations to maximize their supply chain savings, which enables them to reinvest dollars where it counts – into patient care.
For more information, please contact:
Leslie McGill Jay Ayres
Chief Business Development Officer Director, St. Joseph’s GPO
President MedAlliance and Materiel Management
Medbuy Corporation St. Joseph’s Health System
519-652-1688 ext. 126 519-751-7096 ext. 2355
lmcgill@medbuy.ca jayres@sjhcs-gpo.com
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