Supplier Account Manager/Representative. Data Synchronization Requirements

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1 Date: December 1, 2008 To: Re: Supplier Account Manager/Representative Data Synchronization Requirements El Camino Real Suite 100 San Diego, CA T F Cascade Pointe Blvd (28208) P.O. Box Charlotte, NC T F Market Street 7 th Floor Philadelphia, PA T F N Capitol Street NW Suite 625 Washington, DC T F premierinc.com As a valued supplier to the healthcare industry, the Strategic Advisory Committee of Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P. ( Premier ) is sending you this letter to express our dedication to data standards as key to improving patient safety, reducing avoidable supply chain costs and advancing collaborative supply chain performance initiatives. To realize these gains, we are asking for your participation in adopting GS1 data standards and new processes to help meet these goals. The signatories of this letter represent the Strategic Advisory Committee of Premier and collectively endorse GS1 data standards including GTIN, GLN and the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). GS1 standards are currently used in over 20 industries, in over 140 countries around the world, and in over 1 billion transactions a day. GS1 s most highly visible standard is the UPC bar code appearing on retail, grocery and consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical products. Within the healthcare industry, GS1 standards have been endorsed by industry consortiums such as the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), the Coalition for Healthcare estandards (CHeS), the Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Committee (HSCSC) and the Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI). As the healthcare industry continues to move forward in its adoption of standards as other industries are doing, we will need your support to implement related standards and processes in our organization. As Premier s Strategic Advisory Committee, we actively support the following fiveyear plan to adopt GS1 standards throughout our industry: 2008 Launch and education; modify contract terms and conditions to include requirements for standards compliance 2009 Request that providers and suppliers recognize GLNs and that the suppliers begin to register GTINs for their products 2010 Require recognition and use of GLN by all providers and suppliers (December 2010) 2012 Require GTIN for all products from the suppliers; require the use of GTINs by all providers (December 2012) Following are specific steps for your company to take to expedite data standards adoption: I. Global Location Number (GLN) adoption Register your company with the GLN Registry for Healthcare Build capability to leverage GLNs in enterprise systems and business processes Align business partner account numbers with GLNs Page 1 of 7

2 Utilize GLN location data on all order-to-cash business transactions that reference locations II. Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) adoption Register with GS1 to receive GTIN number block Assign GTINs to items and upload item data to GDSN Utilize GTIN item data on all order-to-cash business transactions that reference products El Camino Real Suite 100 San Diego, CA T F Cascade Pointe Blvd (28208) P.O. Box Charlotte, NC T F Market Street 7 th Floor Philadelphia, PA T F N Capitol Street NW Suite 625 Washington, DC T F premierinc.com In order to assist you during this transition, Premier along with Premier s Strategic Advisory Committee is available to answer any questions and to provide guidance as you begin your adoption steps. Your input into this process is highly valued, and we encourage your company to help facilitate the healthcare industry s adoption of data standards by participating in GS1 forums, work groups and pilots. Thank you, in advance, for your passion to embrace adoption of supply chain standards. The collective collaboration between Premier and the supplier community will achieve significant value for each of our organizations and the patients we serve. Standards Overview and Resources Global Trade Item Number (GTIN): This is a 14-digit number used to identify trade items at various packaging levels. For the familiar UPC symbology, the GTIN is the 12-digit number at the bottom of the bar code. Without the GTIN, product identifiers are routinely changed to suit the needs of different trading partners, resulting in transaction errors and requiring inefficient workarounds to compensate. Global Location Number (GLN): The Global Location Number is a 13-digit standardized number that can be used to identify headquarters locations, branches, shipping points and individual departments. All of these can be maintained and looked up online in the Global Registry for Healthcare. Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN): The GDSN enables standardized, validated product data to be exchanged between trading partners on the GDSN Network. It consists of a GS1 Global Registry that connects to numerous interoperable data pools around the world. The network allows for one single point of entry so that trading partners only need to join one certified data pool, anywhere in the world, to communicate with any other trading partner in the GDSN. Today, GDSN is used for over 15,000 companies and 2 million products by manufacturers, distributors, hospitals and retailers around the world. Improvement has been specifically identified in the areas of new item setup, logistics, invoicing, speed to market, and data accuracy. Page 2 of 7

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