How data standards brought provider and supplier together

Deborah Templeton, R.Ph., MHA, vice president of supply chain services for Geisinger Health System; and Jeff Fallon is director, customer development, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, co-wrote an interesting piece on their strategic collaboration.

 

Stakeholders who were once at odds can move to collaboration for mutual success. Think Wal-Mart and Proctor and Gamble, or Kodak and IBM. Seismic economic shifts have dismantled markets, but through crisis, winners have emerged that created paradigm-changing results through stakeholder collaboration.

In early 2010, Geisinger Health System Supply Chain and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. committed to try. The December 2010 sunrise target for use of Global Location Numbers (GLNs) emerged as a key initial opportunity for strategic collaboration.

With the belief that better understanding of respective strategies and tactics would reduce friction and speed joint success, we brought data standards activity leaders from both organizations to share insights and to assess the opportunity for alignment. After four intense hours, both groups had gained new knowledge of their data standards concerns and aspirations and, most important, agreed to continue the conversation through two regularly scheduled focus group conference calls.

To read their full column, click here