Expert group
e-Business
To ensure seamless patient care, healthcare providers are reliant on simple procurement processes. While orders of medical consumables between pharmacies and wholesalers have primarily been pa-perless for years, 40% of orders from hospitals are still being processed by e-mail, fax or telephone. Order entry is carried out in many manual stages, which makes it prone to errors and cost-intensive. This inefficiency can be tackled with comprehensive use of seamless, electronically assisted procurement processes. The comparably low amount of business transactions poses a disadvantage for the full implementation of e-Business in Swiss healthcare. Yet to keep the fixed and unit costs for the mapping of electronic processes low, our small country is dependent on standards as well as on the close cooperation of suppliers and dealers, hospitals and marketplaces.
Who we are
The expert group e-Business comprises member companies of Swiss Medtech that provide durable and non-durable consumer goods of key importance for customers in the supply process. It is particularly aimed at employees in Management, Sales, Logistics and Digitalisation as well as at employees of trading companies. The expert group focuses on the digitalisation of procurement in healthcare.
Who can participate
Employees of Swiss Medtech member companies who wish to promote efficient material management of medical devices (focussing on Switzerland). New members should have a direct link to e-Business in healthcare. Ideal backgrounds are SCM, EDI, Customer Service or Sales. Five years of medtech-related experience and a position in middle management or as a specialist in e-Business are desirable.
Our goals
- Implement digital concepts and IT(electronic data interchange, marketplaces) to increase efficiency in the procurement, logistics, and billing of medical supplies and consumables
- Expand existing GS1 standards, e.g. to promote the exchange of article master data and basic business messages (orders, electronic order confirmations, shipping notifications, and e-invoices)
- Ensure the efficient supply of materials (also considering the revised Medical Device Regulation, MDR) to increase patient safety and security of supply
Our activities
- Promoting the distribution of article master data via Firstbase and GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network) to ensure efficient data exchange between trading partners
- Drafting a bilateral agreement between trading partners to promote a more efficient exchange of product validity certificates under the revised Medical Device Regulation (MDR)
- Further developing and implementing order confirmation, shipping notification, and e-invoice processes into practice