WA Position Statement - eProcurement

Health Corporate Network eProcurement Program for Electronic Trading

WA Health working with NEHTA to improve healthcare supply chain
and patient safety.

This statement reflects a commitment by the Government of Western Australia, through the Department of Health’s Health Corporate Network (HCN), and the National eHealth Transition Authority (NEHTA), to the collaborative development, adoption and utilisation of national eHealth standards in the healthcare supply chain sector, with the goal of improving patient care and the safety and quality of healthcare delivery for all West Australians. This embodies current and ongoing work towards the effective utilisation of NEHTA supply chain solutions at HCN.

HCN eProcurement Program

1. The HCN eProcurement Program is aligned to NEHTA’s National eHealth Supply Chain Reform Program and is compliant with NEHTA supply chain specifications.
2. HCN makes available details of its conformance with NEHTA Supply Chain eProcurement via the HCN Implementation Conformity Statement (ICS).
3. The HCN eProcurement Message Implementation Guidelines (MIG) are publicly available from the National eHealth Register of Conformity, managed by NEHTA.

Development of B2B capability with HCN

1. The NEHTA eProcurement Implementation Compliance Statement (ICS), along with the HCN Message Implementation Guidelines, provide details on the business-to-business (B2B) requirements, to which suppliers must conform prior to trading electronically with HCN. This ensures suppliers have access to comprehensive information to support the cost effective development of their B2B capability.
2. Hub providers and software vendors develop their products and services based on HCN conformance requirements and competitively offer these products and services for use by suppliers.
3. Large and small suppliers are able to access a wide range of technology partners for developing their B2B capability, cost effectively and with assurance that deliverables are compliant and fit-for-purpose.

Supplier connectivity and secure message transmission between HCN and trading partners

1. HCN is compliant with the NEHTA eHealth Supply Chain Federated Marketplace and confirms its alignment to the broader eHealth Supply Chain Reform Program and the establishment of an open eHealth Supply Chain B2B Marketplace.
2. HCN provides all suppliers with a single hub connection point. Suppliers connect, either directly from their own internal hub, or via their preferred hub provider, to the HCN Hub AS/2 connection for the exchange of messages with HCN. The hub-to-hub connectivity enables the supplier to receive HCN Purchase Orders and to send HCN an Order Response, Invoice and other messages as required by HCN.
3. HCN does not charge the supplier (or supplier’s hub service) the cost of connecting to HCN’s hub, or any costs associated with the sending by HCN of a Purchase Order or receipt by HCN of an Order Response, Invoice or other messages.
4. There are no hub-to-hub connectivity charges. HCN is not responsible for payment of any costs incurred by the supplier to meet the specifications required for connectivity. The supplier establishes connectivity to the single HCN hub prior to trading electronically. HCN provides suppliers with details of its AS/2 connection to establish the link to the HCN hub.
5. The supplier is responsible for any costs associated with supplier-side connectivity and transportation of messages required for electronic trading with HCN. This includes the cost of suppliers receiving messages sent via the HCN hub, sending messages to the HCN hub, or for any message transformation required to translate the supplier message format to HCN compliant format.

NEHTA eProcurement, Federated Hub Marketplace Model and Conformity

1. HCN’s eProcurement Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) is publicly available from the National eHealth Register of Conformity, managed by NEHTA.
2. HCN’s eProcurement process aligns with the NEHTA Federated Marketplace specifications.
3. All hubs that wish to provide services to WA’s health procurement community must be capable of implementing the interfaces and message types specified in the NEHTA eProcurement, Technical and Business Architecture specifications.
4. If buyers trade with suppliers that connect to a third-party hub, the two hubs will connect and forward messages between one another free of charge. This is known as hub interconnect.
5. Suppliers must ensure their hub interconnects with other hubs free of charge.
6. This model is common practice in other industry sectors and supported by hub providers for the health sector.
7. State and Territory Health jurisdictions have committed to operating in conformance with the NEHTA eProcurement Specifications and following the NEHTA eProcurement Conformance, Compliance and Accreditation process.

Additional Information:

1. NEHTA eProcurement and Federated Hub Model

www.nehtasupplychain.com.au/eprocurement

• · Implementation for buyers and suppliers

• · Connectivity for buyers and suppliers

2. National eHealth Register of Conformity

www.nehta.gov.au/connecting-australia/cca/eprocurement

3. NEHTA eProcurement Specifications

www.nehta.gov.au/connecting-australia/e-health-procurement

Supply Chain Technical Publications and Specifications

• eProcurement Business Architecture v1.1

• eProcurement Technical Architecture v1.1