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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Alven Weil
Premier Inc.
704.733.5797

Premier healthcare alliance launches value analysis solution to help hospitals better connect staff, achieve quality improvements and cost savings

ValueConnect uses Premier data and resources to align supply chain, finance and clinical teams, engage hospitals around effectively evaluating product and treatment options

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (February 25, 2010) – The Premier healthcare alliance has introduced a new value analysis solution to help hospitals effectively evaluate product and treatment options to improve quality and safety while reducing costs.

ValueConnect™ offers Premier's 2,300 hospital members the opportunity to standardize an approach to value analysis across the entire alliance. It supports the value analysis process through automated workflow management, tracking and measuring results, peer-to-peer collaboration and knowledge sharing.

"Having Premier as a partner is of great importance as we build our value analysis program," said McLaren Healthcare Director of Purchasing Dave Bueby. "Premier provides the expertise, knowledge, and technology to help us engage the right staff, build a sustainable process, and realize true results."

Said Mike Alkire, Premier's Purchasing Partners president, "Premier's resources, expertise, technology and evidence-based data help hospitals effectively evaluate products and treatment options and rapidly take advantage of cost savings and quality improvements. But more importantly, ValueConnect provides the framework to help us function more efficiently as an alliance by allowing Premier hospitals to capitalize on shared knowledge, minimize redundancies and make more informed decisions."

ValueAdvisor™, the cornerstone of ValueConnect, is a Web-based application that offers hospitals an automated solution to manage their value analysis processes, and realize clinical and financial return on investment. Product functionality is geared toward the management of requests, access to comprehensive information to support evaluations, and goal-oriented measurement of results.

A vital component to the ValueConnect solution is the availability of value analysis experts in Premier Consulting Solutions™. ValueConnect includes an array of consulting support ranging from a simple value analysis assessment to more transformational services. As part of the ValueAdvisor implementation, Premier Consulting Solutions conducts an assessment to provide guidance on the cultural and process infrastructure that is critical to success.

"ValueAdvisor transparently connects the supply chain, finance and clinical healthcare staff by providing the means to effectively communicate as a team on product, service and care delivery decisions," said Bill Marquardt, vice president of Product Development and Adoption at Premier. "It is being developed with real-time member input and a vision for collaboration that includes integration of other Premier applications and the ability to share knowledge between members throughout the alliance."

ValueConnect allows hospitals to collaborate and share knowledge building on the best practices demonstrated from Premier collaboratives such as the ASCEND™ (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) program to identify and implement supply chain performance opportunities, and the QUEST^®: High Performing Hospitals collaborative to drive hospitals to new levels of performance and inform public policies with meaningful solutions, supported by real results.

In addition to ValueAdvisor, ValueConnect uses a comprehensive mix of other Premier products, including:

Supply Chain Advisor^® – allows users to analyze all purchases and manage contracts online with access to expert support along the way.
SpendAdvisor^® – analyzes total supply spend and identifies savings opportunities.
QualityAdvisor™ – allows users to benchmark with top performers and to prioritize resource utilization and quality improvement efforts.
SafetySurveillor^® – improves infection prevention efforts and reduces costs associated with healthcare-associated infections.
OperationsAdvisor^® – offers productivity monitoring, assessment and comparative data.
Clinical Focus tools – provide price benchmarks on physician preference items including implantable devices.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,400 U.S. hospitals and nearly 70,000 other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, 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. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. http://www.premierinc.com