The Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) is pleased to announce the addition of four new Provider Partners.  New members include:

     Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, OH) - Bill Donato, Executive Director, Supply Chain Management

     Denver Health and Hospital Authority (Denver, CO) - Philip Pettigrew, Director Materials     
     Management

     Catholic Health Initiatives (Englewood, CO) - Joni Rittler, Vice President of Supply Chain Data
     Analytics

     Ohio State University Medical Center (Columbus, OH) - Rosalind Parkinson, Administrative
     Director

According to Phil Pettigrew, “Denver Health is honored to have been invited to participate in SMI.  This progressive group of suppliers and providers represent the leadership in supply chain innovation and resolve.  There is no issue too large or complex that this group working collaboratively can't solve for the benefit of all.  I am thrilled to be a player in this unique and rewarding effort.” 

“The innovative spirit of the SMI organization is consistent with CHI’s mission.  I am excited to be a member and to contribute to the improvement of the healthcare supply chain industry,” states Joni Rittler.  Catholic Health Initiatives is a national nonprofit health organization with headquarters in Denver, Colorado. CHI is a faith-based system that operates in 20 states and includes 78 hospitals; 40 long-term care, assisted- and residential-living facilities; and two community health-services organizations. Together, these facilities provided $536 million in charity care and community benefit in the 2008 fiscal year, including services for the poor, free clinics, education and research. With annual revenues of $8.2 billion, CHI ranks as the nation's second-largest Catholic health care system, and thrives on their vision of Catholic health care as a vibrant ministry, ready to provide compassionate care of the body, mind and spirit through the 21^st century and beyond.

Ohio State University demonstrates a highly integrated and totally automated procurement and logistics approach to the supply chain. Rosalind Parkinson says she looks forward to the SMI membership to give her the support she needs to take this integration to a new level so that supply information, through application of global standards, can be visible in the Electronic Medical Record to enhance patient safety.

For a complete listing of the SMI Membership visit the SMI website at www.smisupplychain.com.

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SMI is a not-for-profit organization uniting providers and suppliers in shaping an improved, more efficient healthcare supply chain.  SMI convenes seasoned executives from the various segments of the healthcare supply chain to work collaboratively to develop beneficial solutions to healthcare supply chain issues.  All work is done for the benefit of the entire industry and as such, all solutions created within SMI initiative teams are made available to the public at no cost via the SMI website under “Tools” at (SMI Tools).  Members include transactional trading partners from integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and academic medical centers; manufacturers of medical surgical, diagnostic and pharmaceutical supplies; capital equipment and medical device companies; distributors; service providers; IT companies; and other key suppliers.  For additional information visit the SMI website at   www.smisupplychain.com.