LOUISVILLE, Colo. and RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to improve efficiency and reduce costs in the healthcare supply chain, Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE: OMI), a leading national distributor of medical and surgical supplies and a healthcare supply-chain management company, is offering its small- to mid- sized healthcare suppliers the GHX WebDirect2 web-to-electronic data interchange (EDI) solution. The GHX WebDirect2 portal enables suppliers with limited or no e-commerce capabilities to send and receive electronic transactions through the GHX Exchange, providing both the suppliers and Owens & Minor with a more accurate and streamlined procure-to-pay process.

Launched earlier this year, the GHX WebDirect2 portal enables smaller suppliers to connect with trading partners through the GHX electronic trading exchange without having to make major investments in equipment, technology and support staff. When Owens & Minor submits its purchase orders to suppliers via the GHX Exchange, those suppliers using GHX WebDirect2 can access the orders via this Web portal and respond with purchase order acknowledgments, advance ship notices and invoices. With GHX WebDirect2, suppliers can establish or extend their EDI capabilities and Owens & Minor can increase its EDI order volume while reducing manual telephone and fax orders. At the same time, Owens & Minor can reduce higher processing costs associated with manual orders and achieve greater order accuracy.

"By deploying GHX WebDirect2, Owens & Minor can work with its smaller suppliers to drive down the cost of the order process by supplanting previously manual ordering procedures with an effective EDI solution," said Rick Mears, senior vice president & chief information officer of Owens & Minor. "Cleaner, more accurate orders through the EDI transaction process will enable faster turnaround times that will benefit the healthcare providers who rely on our products."

The WebDirect2 solution offers smaller suppliers many of the benefits afforded by the GHX community, the largest collection of healthcare trading partners working together to streamline the purchasing and delivery of medical-surgical products. Purchase orders routed through the GHX Exchange are continuously validated and corrected by GHX Content Intelligence, a service that automatically identifies and replaces incorrect information using GHX-validated data and rules established between trading partners. The result is greater overall order accuracy and reduced manual rework, thus lower processing costs.

"The healthcare industry is looking to achieve major change in the way business is conducted, which centers on reducing costs while increasing quality. To drive this change, participation and adoption of new processes by all parties is needed. Through this new agreement, Owens & Minor and GHX are helping enable smaller suppliers to play a key role in meaningful and sustainable change," said Derek Smith, executive vice president, Marketing and Product Management, GHX.

About GHX

Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX), a healthcare technology and services company, helps reduce the cost of doing business in healthcare by enabling better supply chain management. GHX makes it easier for hospitals, other healthcare providers and the suppliers that do business with them to drive cost and inefficiency out of their processes. Working with GHX, the healthcare organizations that make up the GHX Global Network are on track to save $5 billion by 2014--savings that can be invested in such things as hiring more nurses, providing care to uninsured children or developing new medical products. GHX is owned by organizations on both the buy and sell side of the healthcare supply chain, including some of the largest companies in the world. Find GHX on the Web, on Twitter@GHX_LLC and on Facebook @GHX.

About Owens & Minor, Inc.

Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE: OMI) a FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a leading national distributor of name-brand medical and surgical supplies and a healthcare supply-chain management company. Owens & Minor is also a member of the Russell 2000® Index, which measures the performance of the small-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe, as well as the S&P MidCap 400, which includes companies with a market capitalization of $1 billion to $4.4 billion that meet certain financial standards. With a diverse product and service offering and distribution centers throughout the United States, the company serves hospitals, integrated healthcare systems, alternate site locations, group purchasing organizations, healthcare suppliers, and the federal government. Owens & Minor provides technology and consulting programs that improve inventory management and streamline logistics across the entire medical supply chain -- from origin of product to patient bedside. For news releases, or for more information about Owens & Minor, visit the company website at www.owens-minor.com.

SOURCE Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX)