Here’s the opening of a recent news release about an upcoming healthcare supply chain event that this year, among other things, will include a focus on industry standards and master data management tools: Changing the nature of the healthcare supply chain and refocusing resources in ways that improve financial and clinical performance in healthcare is the focus of the GHX Supply Chain Summit to be held March 29-31, 2010, in Orlando, Fla. The Summit is the largest event in healthcare that brings participants from the entire healthcare supply chain together…

Of seven specific tracks at the event that are called out in the news release for special attention, see what you make of this one and whether or not it sounds familiar: It’s All About the Data: Implementation of industry standards in the U.S. and globally, and application of master data management tools to improve data accuracy and timeliness without significant technology infrastructure upgrades.

I could be biased, but the part about leveraging the existing infrastructure sounds like it could have come right out of Loftware’s  methodology for meeting Unique Device Identification (UDI) mandates coming  soon from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If you haven’t yet seen our White Paper on this topic, it is available here.

For more about the upcoming GHX Supply Chain Summit, you can access the news release here. GHX, by the way, is owned by Abbott Exchange, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; B. Braun Medical Inc.; BD; Boston Scientific Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Covidien; C.R. Bard, Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.; GE Healthcare; HCA; Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.; McKesson Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Owens & Minor; Premier, Inc.; Siemens; University HealthSystem Consortium; and VHA Inc.