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Premier healthcare alliance honors healthcare system, contracted supplier for efforts to promote diversity in supply chain process

Henry Ford Health System and Owens & Minor Inc. winners of the 2009 Premier Diversity Award

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 23, 2009) – The Premier healthcare alliance has named Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) of Detroit and Owens & Minor Inc. of Mechanicsville, Va., as winners of the 2009 Premier Diversity Award. The annual award recognizes a Premier member hospital or health system and a Premier contracted supplier for efforts to purchase goods and services from Premier contracted diverse suppliers, as well as develop procurement strategies aligned with the communities they serve.

Premier incoming President and CEO Susan DeVore and Deborah A. Williams, senior director of supplier diversity, presented the awards June 17, 2009, at Premier's Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, Calif. Some 2,000 representatives of healthcare systems and suppliers attended the meeting from June 16-19.

"Working with diverse suppliers is the right thing to do; it's good for business, for communities and for patients," DeVore said. "Through the Diversity Award, the Premier healthcare alliance recognizes member healthcare organizations and contracted suppliers for exceptional progress in developing and nurturing diversity programs in their organizations and communities."

The alliance member award identifies Premier member hospitals and health systems that have established active programs to evaluate and support minority, women-owned, and veteran-owned contracted suppliers available through the Premier contract portfolio. The award considers members that have established programs to encourage the development of diverse suppliers in their own community. Of the more than 2,100 hospitals in the Premier alliance nationwide eligible for this award, HFHS is the only hospital/health system to receive this distinction.

"Diversity is and will always be within Henry Ford's strategic framework and aligned with our organizational priorities," said James O'Connor, vice president of supply chain management at Henry Ford Health System. "Being recognized for this award represents an extension of our business strategy of embracing diversity."

The supplier award for diversity recognizes Premier contracted suppliers that support efforts to increase purchases from diverse suppliers and provide economic development opportunities for communities throughout the U.S. Of the more than 800 suppliers contracted with the Premier alliance eligible for this award, Owens & Minor is the only organization to receive this distinction.

"All of us at Owens & Minor are truly honored to receive the 2009 Premier Diversity Award, which recognizes our efforts to work with Premier-contracted diverse suppliers, as well as our success in providing economic development opportunities for diverse suppliers around the country," said Craig R. Smith, president and CEO of Owens & Minor. "Supporting the communities we serve is an integral part of our mission, vision and values, and consequently, we remain committed to creating opportunities for minority, women-owned and veteran-owned suppliers as we serve the healthcare industry."

Premier recognized one additional hospital and supplier with honorable mentions for their programs to support supplier diversity: The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center of Houston and CDW Government Inc.

"These organizations realize that access to diversity suppliers expands choice and increases the availability of quality products," said Williams. "They have embraced supplier diversity as an essential strategy for managing product costs and creating fair market conditions for all."

For more information, please visit: https://premierinc.com/about/news/awards/index.jsp.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 80,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, 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 has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. https://premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.