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Alven Weil
Premier Inc.
704.733.5797

Eighteen member hospitals win first-ever Premier Supply Chain Excellence Awards

Winners cited for superior supply expense performance

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 21, 2007) – Eighteen hospital members of the Premier healthcare alliance have been cited for achieving superior supply expense performance by winning the largest healthcare purchasing network’s first-ever Supply Chain Excellence Awards.

The awards were presented Tuesday in ceremonies at Premier’s Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla. Nine other members received honorable mention.

“Achieving and sustaining strong supply chain performance is essential to a healthy bottom line to ensure that the health needs of our communities are met. Therefore, safely reducing supply expense is the definitive focus of Premier and our members,” said Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners, LP. “We are pleased to recognize the significant accomplishments of these member hospitals. Their efforts lead the way for our more than 1,500 member hospitals.”

All of the winners’ supply expense performance is measured by Premier’s SupplyFocusTM, the industry’s largest comparative database of operational and supply chain cost information for acute care hospitals. Winners were identified using four industry standard supply expense ratios and a case-mix-index-(CMI)-based peer grouping methodology to ensure that organizations of diverse sizes and complexity were considered equally.

Supply expense ratios include supply expense as a percent of total operating expense, supply expense as a percent of net patient revenue, supply expense per adjusted patient day, and supply expense per adjusted discharge.

“Each of these metrics has strengths and weaknesses if examined alone; however, in aggregate, organizations that perform well in these metrics are excellent, all-around supply chain performers,” Alkire said.

To be eligible, each organization had to submit four quarters of calendar 2006 data to SupplyFocus by April 30, 2007. With 40 indicators measuring and trending performance in cost and operations, SupplyFocusTM enables hospitals to compare supply expense performance to that of similar facilities and easily identify improvement opportunities.

CMI-stratified acute care hospital and critical access hospital winners and honorable mentions are as follows:

CMI – .95 or less, winners: North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, Harrison, Ark., and Adventist GlenOaks Hospital (Adventist Health System), Glendale Heights, Ill; honorable mention: Grenada Lake Medical Center, Grenada, Miss.

CMI –.96 - 1.05, winners: Methodist Hospital (Community United Methodist Hospital, Inc.), Henderson, Ky., and Banner Churchill Community Hospital (Banner Health), Fallon, Nev.; honorable mention: St. Mary's Hospital (SSM Health Care), Centralia, Ill.

CMI – 1.06 - 1.15, winners: Takoma Regional Hospital (Adventist Health System), Greenville, Tenn., and Presbyterian Hospital of Kaufman (Texas Health Resources), Kaufman, Texas; honorable mention: Randolph Hospital, Asheboro, N.C.

CMI – 1.16 - 1.25, winners: Harris Methodist Northwest Hospital (Texas Health Resources), Azle, Texas, and Memorial Hospital Pembroke (Memorial Healthcare System), Pembroke Pines, Fla.; honorable mention: Mercy Hospital Western Hills (Catholic Health Partners), Cincinnati.

CMI – 1.26 - 1.35, winners: Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center (Resurrection Health Care), Chicago, and Mercy Hospital Fairfield (Catholic Health Partners), Fairfield, Ohio; honorable mention: Cabell Huntington Hospital, Inc., Huntington, W.V.

CMI – 1.36 - 1.45, winner: Sinai-Grace Hospital (Detroit Medical Center), Detroit, and Akron City Hospital (Summa Health System), Akron, Ohio; honorable mention: Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center (Bon Secours Health System, Inc.), Mechanicsville, Va.

CMI – 1.46 - 1.60, winners: St. Joseph Hospital (Catholic Health System), Cheektowaga, N.Y., and Henry Ford Hospital (Henry Ford Health System), Detroit; honorable mention: Kuakini Health System, Honolulu.

CMI – > 1.60, winners: Ellis Hospital (Yankee Alliance), Schenectady, N.Y., and Allegheny General Hospital (West Penn Allegheny Health System), Pittsburgh; honorable mention: West Penn Hospital (West Penn Allegheny Health System), Pittsburgh.

Critical Access hospital winners: Mercy Memorial Hospital (Catholic Health Partners), Urbana, Ohio, and Page Memorial Hospital (Valley Health System), Luray, Va.; honorable mention: East Morgan County Hospital (Banner Health), Brush, Colo.

About Premier Inc., 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
The Premier healthcare alliance is more than 2,100 U.S. hospitals and 58,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to improve healthcare quality and affordability. Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Premier has offices in San Diego, Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. Follow Premier on Twitter.