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CONTACT:
Alven Weil
Premier Inc.
704.733.5797

Premier healthcare alliance Continuum of Care division adds 9,500 new members representing $1 billion in purchasing spend

Total purchasing spend among more than 61,000 members now exceeds $5.3 billion annually

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (September 21, 2009) – The Premier healthcare alliance today announced that its Continuum of Care (CofC) division added 9,500 of its more than 61,000 non-acute care members during its fiscal year 2009. The new members represent $1 billion of Premier's CofC $5.3 billion annual supply purchasing spend. The CofC is comprised of non-acute care sites, including long-term care, surgery centers, physician practices, senior living residences, imaging centers, home care facilities and numerous other market segments across the continuum of care.

According to Jim Oliver, CEO of the Yankee Alliance, "Premier recognizes the growing emphasis in the healthcare marketplace on the full episode of care, from preventive to acute to post-acute, which is why Yankee Alliance, with our membership base of over 7,000, partners with Premier's Continuum of Care program to reduce cost and improve quality across the full continuum of care."

Since 2004, Premier's CofC, which represents the largest non-acute care market of any group purchasing organization, has added more than 30,000 members with annual sales volumes increasing by 80 percent. Premier CofC members realize the value of Premier's industry-leading contract portfolio, including foodservice, medical-surgical, capital equipment, housekeeping, lab, imaging and facilities agreements.

As of 2006, more than 37 million Americans were 65 years of age or older. This population is predicted to increase to 40 million in 2010 and then to 55 million in 2020.

"It is clear that healthcare will need to continue to spread outside of the four walls of the hospital in order to accommodate the growing need for care," said Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire. "Fueled by an aging population and reimbursement constraints in hospitals, the continuum of care market is one of the fastest growing areas of the healthcare industry today. As technology improves and procedures move out of hospital settings into outpatient settings, the need for these facilities to reduce costs has continued to increase dramatically."

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.