WEST VIRGINIA (LOOOTPRESS) – As part of its ongoing effort to address personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chain challenges exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the West Virginia Hospital Association (WVHA) identified PPE.Exchange www.ppe.exchange, a Seattle based tech company that operates a global, online marketplace to connect health care providers and other organizations with vetted suppliers of personal protective equipment and testing. This new arrangement is being facilitated through the West Virginia Health Services, Inc. to assist healthcare providers, businesses, and other West Virginia organizations in obtaining the PPE needed to protect staff, patients, students, customers, and others during the pandemic.
“The interruption of traditional supply chains for PPE was one of the many serious complications associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic this year,” said West Virginia Hospital Association President and CEO, Jim Kaufman. “This impacted healthcare providers greatly. Through this exciting new arrangement, West Virginians will have a new source for acquiring PPE supplies from vetted vendors through PPE.Exchange.”
PPE.Exchange is a digital marketplace that connects PPE purchasers with a network of more than one thousand verified vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers while protecting customers by setting industry standards for PPE quality and vendor verification. With integration to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database through the Open FDA portal, compliance and product certification are validated and recorded in real-time on the secure PPE.Exchange encrypted blockchain. PPE.Exchange platform users have access to a variety of certified PPE and medical supplies and the ability to compare product features such as price, minimum order quantities, certifications, and more. This user-friendly platform, which is free to access, enables customers to easily place orders through a secure check out process that incorporates a built-in escrow and smart contract system.
“It became clear early in the COVID-19 pandemic that many organizations struggled to identify alternate sources for PPE when traditional supply chains were unable to meet consumer demand,” said PPE.Exchange co-founder JT Garwood. “We created PPE.Exchange to address the major challenge of vetting new suppliers and providing transparency to the process of obtaining PPE supplies. Our primary goal with PPE.Exchange is to provide a customer-friendly, secure tool to help organizations across industries procure the supplies they need to protect their workforce.”
Through this arrangement, WVHA will work with PPE.Exchange to market the platform to healthcare providers, colleges and universities, large and small employers, and other businesses and organizations that need PPE to protect their workforce, patients, and customers. One major advantage of PPE.Exchange is the ability for small organizations to participate in collaborative purchases to help organizations achieve the scale necessary to purchase PPE amid increasing demand. Interested organizations can also purchase directly through the platform at any time. This includes organizations such as assisted living facilities, dental practices, government entities, educational institutions and other organizations that need supplies to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Any organization interested in learning more about PPE.Exchange and purchasing supplies is strongly encouraged to contact the WVHA team to learn more.
