INFORMATION FOR VENDORS

Dear Vendor,

Welcome to the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) Vendor page. We are committed to delivering the best in patient care. We recognize that vendors are an essential part of our delivery, so we carefully select our vendors.

There are three aspects to this page that you will want to review:

1. Information about our Purchasing Department

2. How to register to do business with us using Vendormate

3. How to submit a product/service for review through MedApproved

About our Purchasing Department

Purchasing is part of the Materials Management department and is located at 101 Station Landing in Medford, near the intersections of Route 16 and 28 at Wellington Circle. Our telephone number is 781-306-8970.

All Vendors, with the exception of Pharmaceutical representatives, are strongly urged to meet with a representative from Purchasing prior to making any sales or service calls to any individual or department at CHA so they can become familiarized with the processes relating to the introduction of new products or technologies.

For Pharmaceutical Reps

Please contact our Pharmacy department directly. To do business with CHA you must attend a monthly orientation session - this is mandatory.

Vendors who frequently visit CHA facilities will be asked to join the CHA Vendor Program which is designed to streamline the collection and management of key information regarding the regulatory and compliance status as well as business operations of our vendors and suppliers. CHA has partnered with Vendormate for this process.

How to Register to do business with CHA

All vendor companies and representatives must complete registration in order to do business at Cambridge Health Alliance facilities.

One nominal annual credentialing fee covers all representatives of your company that interact with CHA. The price ranges from $25 to $250 per year depending on your company's risk profile and is paid directly to our partner, Vendormate, Inc. It is important that each representative registers individually to maintain their personal credentials and ensure ongoing access to our facilities.

To find out more about the program or to register, please go to the CHA Vendormate website.

Vendormate also has an alternative pricing offer, Vendormate Open Access, that gives you access to ALL Vendormate hospitals for one fee. Please contact vendormate by email for more information.

A Federal Tax identification number (FEIN) and a Credit Card are required to complete the initial registration. Additional representatives only need the Federal Tax identification number.

Your representatives who visit CHA will be required to sign in electronically to obtain an identification badge. With a valid appointment and current credentials, your representative will be able to print out a single-use identification badge that is to be worn throughout the visit to any CHA facility.

We value our vendor relationships and appreciate your participation in this program. If you have technical questions, go to the vendormate website and use the Support Center link at the bottom of the page.

CHA is also interested in building a diverse supplier business base and encourages any Minority, Woman, or Veteran owned business to contact us about your company and product offerings. In addition, CHA is very interested in improving the health of its communities and encourages vendors with environmentally friendly or green products to send information to the Purchasing Department for analysis and discussion.

Due to the number of products that enter our system and the complex nature of the healthcare industry, Cambridge Health Alliance is using new MedApproved software that will let you submit products/services for timely review. As of January 2, 2012, this is the only method of approving products at our facilities. If our product is not approved in this system then no Purchase Order will be issued.

MedApproved should not be confused with the Vendor Credentialing services such as Vendormate.

Some of the benefits you will receive from using this software are:

1. Ensure that your product is being reviewed by all key decision makers

2. Allows for transparency into our decision making process including the ability to see what stage your product is in and an estimated decision date

3. Reduces the number of visits and the phone calls to the hospital to get status updates

4. Automatic email alerts if additional information is required and status updates including final decisions

How to submit a request for review through MedApproved

Starting January 2, 2012, you will need to visit www.medapproved.com to register and submit a product/service for review. MedApproved has step-by-step instructions for submitting a product request. At this time, there is no cost to register or submit a request using the system.

In order to process your request, MedApproved will ask you about a sponsor. The sponsor is the person that you have spoken to at CHA about the item being requested. If you have any questions, please contact the Purchasing department at 781-306-8970.

Please be sure to send all requests to CHA in MedApproved along with your sponsors name and email address.

We hope that we will be able to make doing business with the Alliance an efficient and mutually beneficial experience. If you have any suggestions on how we might improve your experience, please contact us.

.