Gallion Revolutionizes Supply Chain Efficiency at University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) has successfully deployed Gallion, a cutting-edge digital technology solution developed by its innovation center, iHarbor. A cloud-based platform, Gallion has significantly optimized the efficiency of bill-only transactions in the supply chain, transforming the management of high-cost procedures such as knee, hip and spine surgical implants.

Integrating seamlessly with electronic medical record and enterprise resource planning systems, Gallion reimagines the bill-only supply chain management function by automating and standardizing the tracking and processing of consumption, charges and contracts. The platform provides sophisticated analytics and reporting, dramatically improving accuracy, transparency and compliance.

Before Gallion’s implementation in 2021 automating these processes, UMMS relied on a manual labor-intensive paper-based process that had the potential for errors and inefficiencies. Data from the deployment of Gallion across UMMS’s 11 hospitals shows completion time being reduced by 75% and the defect/error rate lowered from 18% to just 3%.

“The efficiency gains and cost savings we’ve achieved with Gallion are remarkable,” said Pat Vizzard, Vice President of Supply Chain Management for UMMS. “Gallion has enabled tremendous collaboration among our clinical and administrative staff and supplier vendor representatives. It has enhanced transparency and contract compliance throughout our bill-only workflow from the operating room to the purchase order. We have captured millions in savings and improved our contract negotiations through Gallion’s robust reporting and analytics capabilities.”

“Gallion has transformed our supply chain operations and reduced the administrative burden on our clinical staff to better align them with patient care,” added Kate Christner, Director of Business Operations, Perioperative Services at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, an UMMS member organization/hospital. “We have reduced billing conflicts to 3%, increased our charge capture three-fold and we validate and approve 95% of our bill sheets with two hours of submission.”

iHarbor, UMMS’s innovation center, was established to develop digital products and solutions addressing unmet clinical needs and business opportunities and transforming health care delivery and operations. The talented team at iHarbor includes digital strategists, software engineers, data scientists, clinicians and administrative stakeholders.

“We developed Gallion to disrupt the manual bill-only process and improve upon existing market solutions,” said Warren D’Souza, PhD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at UMMS and leader of iHarbor. “Our goal was to create a seamless, standard workflow that enhances cost insight and vendor price knowledge.”

iHarbor is now bringing Gallion to the market, enabling other hospitals and health systems to realize similar benefits.

“Our position as a large health system allows us to understand the day-to-day challenges faced by health care providers,” Dr. D’Souza said. “Our solutions are built by a health system for health systems, with a focus on workflows, user experience and care delivery.”

Gallion Advantages

• Reduces or eliminates manual, error-prone and tedious work associated with a fully digital bill-only solution particularly for clinical staff.
• Digitizes and automates item utilization and contract price compliance and reconciliation processes at the point of care and in real time in a single system leading to a near 100% compliance rate.
• Leverages sophisticated analytics to empower the supply chain team to review monthly spend and quickly evaluate their price and contract competitiveness.
• Provides clinical quality and patient reported outcomes data down to the surgeon, procedure, and implant level which will ultimately enable improved outcomes and quality, opening options for bundled payment/value-based care contracting.
• Gallion will debut at AHRMM24, the premier event for health care supply chain professionals, taking place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. Visit the UMMS/iHarbor Booth #223 on Monday, September 23 to learn how Gallion is transforming bill-only supply chain management with increased efficiency and compliance. More details are available at the AHRMM24 website.

About the University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.

About iHarbor

The iHarbor Innovation Center at the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) focuses on solving complex but common problems in health care. iHarbor is reimagining health care delivery, operations and administration — bringing to life transformational solutions that dramatically improve health care outcomes, efficiency, quality and value. These solutions revolutionize treatment and bring superior experiences to patients, clinicians and administrators alike. iHarbor develops products and solutions that improve the health of patients and create more optimal environments to deliver and receive care.