Premier in the news
2008 archive
Bundling: the KISS method for preventing HAIs; Healthcare Purchasing News;
12/30/08: This article looks at bundling as a method for preventing healthcare associated infections, featuring comments from Judene Bartley and Gina
Pugliese, both of the Premier Safety Institute. A bundle is a collection
of best practices and processes identified by evidence-based science as
necessary to provide optimum care for patients in certain circumstances
involving particular risks to achieve the goal of improved outcomes.
Full story
Premier experts co-author American Journal of Cardiology article on
the survival benefit of patients undergoing cardiac exams; Medical News Today;
12/22/08: Experts from the Premier alliance have co-authored an article for the American Journal of Cardiology
regarding the use of ultrasounds among patients receiving cardiac care. The research for the article was based
on over 4.3 million patient discharge records from Premier’s Perspective™ database, the nation’s largest clinical and
financial healthcare database.
Full story
Action on antibiotics lacking; Modern Healthcare; 12/22/08:
This article, featuring Premier alliance members PeaceHealth, Virginia
Commonwealth University Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital
(Chesterfield, Mo.), as well as Premier's Scott Pope, discusses how
hospitals are working to institute proper antimicrobial stewardship programs
to reduce infections.
Full
story (subscription required)
Illinois hospital expects to save big by joining purchasing
collaborative; Healthcare Finance News; 12/16/08: Riverside
Medical Center of Kankakee, Ill., expects supply savings of more than half a
million dollars by joining the Illinois Purchasing Collaborative, a program
of the Illinois Hospital Association and the Premier healthcare alliance to
reduce members' supply chain costs. "As a long time participant in IHA's
Illinois Provider Trust and a subscriber to Premier's Healthcare Informatics
division, it only made sense for us to evaluate the IPC," said Phillip
Kambic, Riverside's president and CEO.
Full story
Putting products to the test; Hospitals & Health Networks;
12/15/08: This article looks at the Premier QUEST Comparative Innovation
Program, featuring comments from Premier Chief Operating Officer Susan
DeVore and Premier Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Blair Childs.
Full story
Battling the downturn; HealthLeaders Media; 12/15/08: This article by
Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire discusses the economic
pressures that hospitals are facing today, offering suggestions as to how
they can maintain during these tough economic times. "As healthcare
professionals, we need to guide and assist care providers to ensure they get
the best value for the most important investment they have to make – the
investment in the health of our communities."
Full story
Obama pledges to pursue health IT, despite economic woes; NextGov;
12/12/08: President-elect Barack Obama vowed on Thursday to pursue the
use of health information technology aggressively, while his pick to head
the Health and Human Services Department said he viewed health IT as a key
part of the new administration's stimulus package. Premier Senior Vice
President of Public Affairs Blair Childs said he agrees with President-elect
Obama and Senator Baucus that health IT shows "tremendous promise for
improving quality and efficiency, enhancing patient safety and eliminating
costs from the health care system."
Full story
Fighting health care-associated infections; Hospitals & Health
Networks; 12/08 issue: This article by Premier Chief Operating
Officer Susan DeVore discusses guidelines to fight healthcare-associated
infections via the proper usage of antibiotics.
Full story
Get more bang from your EHR buck: Automate quality reporting; HFM
Magazine; 12/08 issue: This article by Premier Vice President Randy
Thomas looks at how healthcare organizations nationwide are implementing
electronic health records and other IT focused on improving quality and
reducing cost.
Full
story
Care to compare?; Hospitals & Health Networks; 12/08 issue:
If the term "comparative effectiveness research," doesn’t grab you, consider
this: Proponents say that if put into practice, this type of research could
help to bring the nation's health care spending under control and improve
quality at the same time. After years as little more than a talking point,
comparative effectiveness has suddenly "caught fire as an idea whose time
has come," says Premier Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Blair
Childs. "This could really change the evaluation of clinical products," says
Susan DeVore, Premier's chief operating officer. "Hospitals need this
information as soon as they can get it," she says. Researchers conducting
comparative effectiveness reviews are trying to find data on subpopulations
and include the information in their reports when it's available, says
Joseph Lau, M.D., director of Premier alliance member Tufts Medical Center’s
Evidence-based Practice Center.
Full story
Tough times force looks at supply costs; OR Manager; 12/08
issue: This article, featuring Premier Purchasing Partners President
Mike Alkire, discusses Premier's efforts to help its alliance member
hospitals during these tough economic times.
Full story (.pdf)
Hospital initiative could reduce patient mortality, increase
reliability of care, company says; CQ HealthBeat/The Commonwealth Fund;
12/6/08: Premier healthcare alliance's QUEST hospital initiative could
reduce patient mortality by 17 percent and could improve reliability of care
by 13 percent if the nationwide project obtains its goals, according to an
analysis the company released on 12/3. "Effectively, we're creating an
improvement community of hospitals," said Premier President and CEO Rick
Norling at a forum that featured panelists from Premier, the Institute for
Healthcare Improvement, Alegent Health, the Joint Commission, Inova Health
System and Vocera Communications, a wireless communication system for
hospital staff.
Full story
Sage product honored for oral care excellence; Northwest (Chicago)
Herald; 12/6/08: Premier named healthcare product manufacturer Sage
Products Inc. as one of six finalists of the QUEST Comparative Innovation
Program. Premier's QUEST Comparative Innovation Program is a collaborative
effort among care providers to improve the quality of health care. Sage's
product was selected because of its successful track record, its impact on
reducing the cost of care, ability to save lives, patient experiences, and
its effectiveness in avoiding harm.
("Full story" link no longer active)
Carolinas joins alliance to boost outcomes, cut costs; Charlotte
(NC) Business Journal; 12/5/08: Premier Inc. operates one of the
largest health-care purchasing networks and clinical databases in the nation
and has the bulk of its operations in Charlotte. Now it can say it has
landed the biggest fish in its own pond. Carolinas HealthCare System, the
third-largest public health-care system in the United States, agreed to join
Premier in October.
Full story
Premier touts quality of care effort as model for health reform;
Inside Health Policy/Inside CMS; 12/5/08: A quality of care program
developed to change the culture of the hospital delivery system by offering
a method to measure improved quality while driving down costs is being
touted by the Premier healthcare alliance as an initiative that could fold
into a comprehensive health reform plan. A broad range of stakeholders –
including the American Hospital Association, CMS and the Joint Commission –
contributed to the development of QUEST by participating in an advisory
panel, most of whom Susan DeVore, Premier chief operating officer, told
Inside CMS are still supportive of the project as it rolls out. Investing in
the effort to reform the mentality of hospitals is the most costly aspect of
QUEST, said Richard Norling, Premier president and CEO.
("Full story" link no longer active)
Improvements on mortality figures, safety predicted; Modern
Healthcare; 12/3/08: Backers of Premier's QUEST collaborative, a
national three-year hospital quality and cost improvement project, estimate
the effort could reduce hospital patient mortality by 17% and improve
reliability of care by 13%, provided its participating hospitals meet the
project's quality goals.
Full story
Groups launch hospital quality project; AHA News; 12/3/08:
Premier Inc. and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement have announced an
initiative to improve patient care quality and outcomes in 166 non-profit
hospitals in 31 states. During the three-year QUEST project, participating
hospitals will share best practices and systematically initiate efforts to
reduce mortality rates and inpatient costs while improving patient safety,
reducing healthcare-associated infections and enhancing patients' care
experience. Once concluded, Premier plans to share information on how the
hospitals improved with the health care community.
Full story
C-suite leadership key to lowering infection rates; Hospitals &
Health Networks; 12/08 issue: A study released in September by
Premier and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and
Epidemiology found that only 15 percent of infection preventionists believe
executive and physician leadership at their hospitals are engaged in system
infection control efforts. Thirty percent of those surveyed said executive
leadership was the most important resource in reducing hospital-acquired
infections. "There’s a need for the board and senior leadership to show
visible support for infection prevention programs," says Gina Pugliese, a
safety consultant for Premier. To bring down infection rates, Premier
alliance member Kettering Health Network relies on a series of standard
practices, known as a "bundle," for clinicians to follow, said Frank Perez,
president and CEO.
Full story
P4P lessons learned; Health Data Management; 12/1/08: This
article, written by Premier alliance members Sacred Heart Medical Center and
Providence Health Care, discusses successes and lessons learned as a part of
the Premier, CMS HQID project.
Full story
Election results offer promise, peril for hospitals; Healthcare
Finance News; 12/1/08: This article, featuring Premier Senior Vice
President of Public Affairs Blair Childs, looks at what hospitals can expect
from the federal government in 2009.
Full story
Knocking out resistant organisms: Supply chain and infection
preventionists team up; Healthcare Purchasing News; 12/08 issue:
Although great strides are being made in many institutions across the
country, it doesn’t mean that in all, or even most, instances resistant
organisms can be knocked totally out of commission. Why isn’t it reasonable
to believe that resistant organisms can be eradicated? Gina Pugliese, vice
president of Premier's Safety Institute, explained.
Full story
Advancing quality in the North West; Health Services Journal (UK);
11/27/08: This article, featuring Premier President and CEO Rick Norling,
discusses the UK’s Advancing Quality P4P program, modeled after the
Premier/CMS HQID project.
Full story
One-on-one with Blair Childs of Premier Inc.; Healthcare Informatics; 11/21/08:
In this exclusive interview, Premier Senior Vice President of Public
Affairs Blair Childs talks about healthcare legislation prospects in
Congress.
Full story
Premier readies product ID system ahead of mandates; Charlotte (NC) Business Journal;
11/21/08: Premier Inc. is developing a system to identify medical equipment that will increase patient safety by ensuring accuracy.
The health-care alliance, which has an operations center in Charlotte, is requiring its more than 800 suppliers and manufacturers to
mark millions of devices ranging from syringes to stents by 2012.
Full story
How activists are forcing change in green IT; Greener Computing;
11/18/08: Often, advocacy groups campaign against specific business practices – take the movement to ban BPA from
baby bottles, for instance. But when it comes to the electronics industry, non-government organizations are
attempting to shift the entire business paradigm.
Full story
Lobbying for reform; Modern Healthcare;
11/17/08: This article, featuring Premier's Blair Childs, discusses Sen. Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) comprehensive
plan to cover all Americans through public and private reforms and the inevitable resistance it will receive
from certain sectors of the healthcare industry.
Full story
(login required)
Baucus, Dingell push swift action toward universal healthcare;
Healthcare Finance News; 11/13/08: With 69 days until
President-elect Barack Obama takes office, Congressional leaders are gearing
up to make sure healthcare reform doesn't slip through the cracks this time.
This article, featuring a statement from Premier, looks at Sen. Max Baucus'
(D-Mont) efforts to reform the US healthcare system.
Full story
Newsmaker interview: G. Edwin Howe; Healthcare Finance News;
11/08 issue: In this interview, Ed Howe, retired president and founder
of Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, and former Premier board member,
discusses the effect of the economy on the healthcare industry.
Full story
What Obama means for health information technology; HealthLeaders
Media; 11/11/08: President-elect Barack Obama has made it clear that
health information technology will play a central role in his plan to
overhaul the health system. This article, featuring insights Premier Senior
Vice President of Public Affairs Blair Childs, discusses what effect the new
administration will have on healthcare IT.
Full story
The bright side of energy conservation; Materials Management in
Health Care; 11/08 issue: This article written by Premier Safety
Institute Vice President Gina Pugliese discusses the need for the
improvement of energy conservation in the healthcare industry, touching on
Premier's SPHERE initiative.
Full story
Premier honored as one of best places to work in Charlotte;
Charlotte Business Journal; 11/5/08: Premier is among 65 businesses
in the Charlotte, NC, region recognized as the area’s Best Places to Work
for 2008. This is the second consecutive year Premier has been recognized.
In improving from the 11th spot to the fifth spot, Premier was the only
large business and one of three overall companies in the area to receive the
Most Improved Award.
Full story
U.S.-based Premier demonstration project takes off in England;
FierceHealthcare; 11/3/08: Most likely, everyone is familiar with
the Premier Demonstration Project of the past four-plus years. For those who
are not: in summary, it was an opportunity for hospitals to voluntarily
report their quality data to CMS through Premier, which would then be
benchmarked against other hospitals. Now, the Northwest area of England
(think Manchester, Liverpool, etc.) has started a similar project called
Advancing Quality, with Premier leading the efforts.
Full story
Medicare won't pay for errors anymore; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel;
11/1/08: This article, featuring Premier’s Salah Qutaishat, discusses
Medicare decision to no longer fully reimburse hospitals for certain
hospital-acquired conditions and how such is affecting Wisconsin hospitals.
Full story
Q&A with Premier CIO and senior vice president Joe Pleasant: Supply
chain standards to enhance patient safety, reduce costs; Healthcare Cost
Containment; 10/08 issue: This Q&A, featuring Premier’s Joe
Pleasant, discusses Premier’s endorsement of GS1 supply chain standards and
the ensuing safety improvements.
Full story (.pdf)
Going for the gold standard; Baseline Magazine; 10/30/08:
As one of the health care industry’s largest group purchasing organizations,
Premier Purchasing Partners is responsible for evaluating products and
services and then selecting the most cost-effective solutions. Premier's
goal is to unite a fragmented, chaotic and inefficient health care system.
Seven years ago, frustrated by the lack of industry-standard product,
supplier and organization ID numbers, Premier decided to collect data from
disparate systems and standardize them based on Premier’s item master list.
Marla Weigert, group vice president, Purchasing Partners Data/Technology,
details how Premier streamlined the product information management process
and reduced the time and resources spent manually standardizing data.
Full story
Towing the line: Balancing costs, product utilization and quality of
care is possible, but it takes work; Journal of Healthcare Contracting;
10/08 issue: Not only is it possible to tie together expenses, product
utilization and clinical outcomes, it’s necessary in order to provide more
efficient, better quality patient care, according to experts. Still, it’s no
easy task. This article features Premier’s Kathy Connolly and Dawn Terry
discussing these issues.
Full
story
Tools calculate MS-DRG payments; Health Data Management;
10/27/08: Online reimbursement calculators that enable hospitals to
compare their costs to reimbursement under the Medicare Severity Diagnosis
Related Group system are available through Premier. Available for
cardiovascular, orthopedic and spine implants, the in-house developed
calculators can help reduce the number of inaccurate claims that lower
Medicare reimbursement without affecting the quality of care.
Full
story
Premier urges hospital suppliers to keep costs down in tough times;
Healthcare Finance News; 10/24/08: The Premier healthcare alliance
has issued a plea to its contracted hospital suppliers to keep prices down
during the current economic downtown. With margins that usually hover near 2
percent, hospitals have always been on the edge, even before the current
Wall Street meltdown trickles down to providers, said Mike Alkire, president
of Premier Purchasing Partners.
Full story
AHA, GPO onboard for ICD-10 implementation; Modern Healthcare;
10/22/08: The American Hospital Association and Premier joined the
American Health Information Management Association in supporting HHS’
proposal to upgrade the International Classification of Diseases coding
system, saying the codes bring with them enhanced information technology and
patient safety. “All other G-7 nations and the World Health Organization
utilize ICD-10, and until the United States follows suit, we must manually
convert our information,” Premier wrote.
Full story (login required)
Carolinas HealthCare System joins Premier purchasing group; The
Charlotte (NC) Observer; 10/21/08: Carolinas HealthCare System has
joined the Premier healthcare alliance, a partnership that will translate to
a healthier Charlotte-area community through shorter stays in the hospital,
fewer hospital re-admissions and investments in state-of-the-art
technologies and products.
Full
story
Premier CEO to step down in 2009; Healthcare Finance News;
10/16/08: Richard A. Norling will retire as president and chief
executive officer of Premier Inc., the nationwide healthcare alliance, on
June 30, 2009, the end of his current contract term.
Full story
Premier CEO to retire; Charlotte Business Journal; 10/17/08:
Richard Norling will retire as president and chief executive of Premier Inc.
on June 30, when his employment contract ends. The company hasn’t yet chosen
a successor. Norling joined Premier as chief operating officer in 1997. He
became president and CEO in 1998.
Full story
Norling to retire from Premier next summer; Modern Healthcare;
10/16/08: Richard Norling, president and chief executive officer of
Premier, said he would retire June 30, 2009, after more than a decade at the
company’s helm. A replacement has not been named. Norling, voted No. 66 on
Modern Healthcare’s list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare this
year, joined Premier in 1997, a year after the purchasing organization was
formed. As CEO, he helped steer Premier to a 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award, while growing the company to reach more than 2,000
not-for-profit hospitals and more than 53,000 healthcare sites.
Full story (login required)
Minnesota hospital uses IT to fight infection; Healthcare IT News;
10/10/08: Park Nicollet Health Services is implementing technology to
help prevent healthcare-associated infections at 426-bed Park Nicollet
Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, MN. Park Nicollet will implement the
Premier healthcare alliance's SafetySurveillor technology.
Full story
A new way to buy energy; Hospitals & Health Networks; 10/08
issue: This article, featuring Premier alliance member Covenant Health
System in Lexington, MA, looks at the reverse auction process that is part
of Premier’s SPHERE initiative.
Full story
Infusing value analysis in contracting strategies; Healthcare
Purchasing News; 10/08 issue: This article, featuring Premier
alliance member Cape Fear Valley Health System and Premier Consulting
Solutions' Tim Berkey, discusses the role of value analysis in contracting
and supply chain management.
Full
story
Blueprint needed for infection fight; HealthLeaders Media;
10/6/08: This article, featuring comment from Premier Safety Institute
Vice President Gina Pugliese, discusses the challenges in fighting HAIs. "It
would be nice to say there is a magic bullet out there, just hire this many
staff and your problem is solved, but that's not the case," said Pugliese.
Full story
Wanted: A new COO; Modern Healthcare; 10/6/08: This
article, featuring Premier alliance members Sharp HealthCare and GNYHA, as
well as Premier Vice President of Supplier Relations Dave Edwards, discusses
the hospital chief outsourcing officer and how GPOs are playing a role.
Full story
Premier warns of proprietary quality measures; Modern Healthcare; 10/1/08:
Premier is warning the Federal Trade Commission that the use of proprietary
“black boxes” to generate federally required quality-data reporting – data that
promises to stoke competition among providers by informing consumers – could
create monopolies among suppliers of quality measures and actually harm
consumers by depriving them of access to transparent information.
Full story
(login required)
Cash bonuses scheme to get Trusts to perform better;
The Whitehaven News (United Kingdom); 10/1/08:
In the United Kingdom, North Cumbria’s hospitals could get cash bonuses
for improving patient care and cutting the length of time patients spend
on wards. The West Cumberland Hospital and the Cumberland Infirmary are
two of 40 from across the North West taking part in a new healthcare
initiative. Going live in Whitehaven and Carlisle this week, bosses say
the Advancing Quality scheme will save lives and promote better patient
care. The strategic health authority is working with Premier Inc., a
company which helped pioneer a similar system in the USA.
Full story
'Superbugs' that strike the sickest patients: The Wall Street
Journal; 10/1/08: This article, with input from Premier Safety
Institute Vice President Gina Pugliese, discusses gram-negative bacteria, a
class of bacteria once thought to be fairly benign that is now emerging as a
deadly threat to the sickest and most vulnerable patients.
Full story
Life-saver plan for hospitals; WiganToday.net (Wigan, England);
9/29/08: A revolutionary health improvement scheme is to be introduced
at two Wigan, England hospitals. From October 1, the Royal Albert Edward
Infirmary and Wrightington Hospital will take part in Advancing Quality, a
three year, voluntary program which, organizers believe, will save lives and
resources. Premier Inc, a company which helped pioneer a similar system in
the American "not for profit" healthcare sector, is a partner in the scheme.
In the US, hospitals which performed well saw lower death rates, reduced
complications, fewer re-admissions and shorter lengths of stay for patients.
Full story
Cover story: Infection dejection; Modern Healthcare; 9/29/08:
This article, featuring Premier alliance member SSM Health Care and
referencing a Premier survey on healthcare-associated infections, looks
at HHS’ plan to release guidelines on infection control to improve
patient care.
Full story (login required)
Tech gap stalls P4P progress; Government Health IT; 9/26/08:
This article, featuring Premier alliance members Alegent Health, Aurora
Health Care, Billings Clinic and Palomar Pomerado Health, discusses the need
for enhanced technologies for incentive programs, such as the Premier, CMS
HQID project.
Full
story
Hospitals' cash bonus for improving care; News & Star (UK);
9/25/08:
This article discusses the UK-based NHS North West’s Advancing Quality
program, the country’s first hospital P4P program. Premier is consulting
NHS on the program, which will model the CMS, Premier HQID project.
Full story
Nationwide redesign to help prevent HAIs, deaths, and save hospitals
money; Healthcare Finance News; 9/24/08: This article looks at a
survey of infection preventionists by Premier, featuring insights from
Premier alliance member SSM Health Care and Premier Safety Institute Vice
President Gina Pugliese.
Full story
More leadership on infection control urged: survey; Modern Healthcare; 9/23/08:
More management and physician leadership is needed to improve
infection-control practices and make patient care safer, according to a
survey released by Premier and the Association for Professionals in
Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Full story (login required)
CMS value-based purchasing initiatives to grow; Modern Healthcare; 9/22/08:
Value-based purchasing initiatives by the CMS will expand in the pursuit
of quality improvement, according to an agency official. Thomas Valuck,
a physician who is medical officer and senior adviser in the CMS’ Center
for Medicare Management, said that without reining in costs, the
Medicare Part A trust fund could be depleted by 2019. Value-based
purchasing avoids unnecessary costs and focuses on quality of care, he
said. Value-based purchasing encompasses a range of pilot programs – such
as the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration, nursing home
demonstration and the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative – that have
been showing success in reducing costs and increasing quality, Valuck
said.
Full story (login required)
Hospital system saves money at online energy auction; Health
Facilities Management; 9/08 issue: This article, featuring Premier
alliance member Covenant Health Systems and Premier Safety Institute Vice
President Gina Pugliese, discusses Covenant’s savings as a part of Premier’s
SPHERE initiative climate and energy collaborative focused on reducing the
healthcare industry’s carbon footprint.
Full story
Cover story: Experiments in payment; Hospitals & Health Networks;
9/08 issue: This article, featuring Premier alliance members Gaston
Memorial Hospital, Baptist Health South Florida and Kettering Medical
Center, as well as Premier Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Blair
Childs, discusses the Premier/CMS HQID project as one of the most ambitious
current projects leading the “quiet revolution” towards payment reform in
healthcare.
Full story
Quality gains noted; national standards urged; Modern Healthcare; 9/10/08:
Some quality initiatives have made headway in improving patient care,
but more needs to be done to establish national performance standards
and promote health information technology, witnesses testified before
the Senate Finance Committee. The CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive
Demonstration Project was cited by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus
(D-Mont.) and witnesses at the hearing as an approach that’s had some
success in accelerating quality.
Full story (login required)
Experts push transparency, P4P, and healthcare IT for healthcare
reform; Healthcare Finance News; 9/10/08:
Transparency in healthcare, pay-for-performance (P4P) and healthcare IT
are among the top ways experts say the country could overhaul its
healthcare system to not only improve care, but also reduce costs. At a
Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, providers and experts from the
private sector urged the federal government to take the lead on reform.
Greg Schoen, MD, regional medical director of Fairview Northland Medical
Center in Princeton, Minn., backed pay-for-performance. Fairview
participated in the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration
project with drastic improvements in its performance.
Full
story
Commentary: Small hospital provides big lesson in quality of care; HealthLeaders Media; 9/10/08:
If you get a chance, read the testimony presented on Tuesday (Sept. 9)
to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee by Greg Schoen, MD, regional
medical director at Fairview Northland Medical Center in Princeton, MN,
located about 50 miles north of the Twin Cities. It provides a blueprint
for success for improving patient outcomes. In its first year of
participation in CMS' Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project,
Fairview Northland found itself ranked among the bottom 10% of
participating hospitals. Within three years, after identifying and
correcting a number of problems, the 54-bed hospital was ranked among
the top hospitals in the program.
Full story
Bigger rewards – and stronger penalties – may help improve health care
quality, experts say; CQ Politics; 9/9/08:
Paying health care providers more to do quality work and insisting they
abide by a set of minimum quality standards would go a long way toward
improving the quality of medical care that patients receive, witnesses
told the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday. Among the witnesses was Greg
Schoen, regional medical director of the Fairview Northland Medical
Center in Princeton, Minn., who said his facility earned $40,445 over
three years for participating in a hospital quality incentive
demonstration operated jointly by CMS and Premier Inc.
Full story
Nonprofit hospitals aim to maintain margins; Managed Healthcare Executive; 9/08 issue:
This article, featuring insights from Premier President and CEO Richard
Norling, discusses how nonprofit hospitals are dealing with tough
economic times. According to Norling, there are several ways that
nonprofit hospitals can improve their financial picture, including
linking cost, safety and quality through the implementation of
evidence-based medicine.
Full story
10 keys to an ophthalmic safety knife conversion; Outpatient
Surgery Magazine; 9/08 issue: This article, featuring insights from
Premier Safety Institute Vice President Gina Pugliese, looks at sharps
safety in the hospital setting.
Full story (registration required)
Curbing antibiotic use in war on 'superbugs'; The Wall Street
Journal; 9/3/08: This article looks at Premier’s SafetySurveillor as
one of the tools hospitals are using to win the war against infections and
features insights from Premier alliance member University of Wisconsin
Hospital and Clinics.
Full story
Inflation frustration; Modern Healthcare; 9/1/08:
Higher prices for raw materials have begun to hit the cost of health
products, and GPOs are feeling the pressure, according to Modern
Healthcare’s annual GPO survey.
Full story (login required)
Demand for oncology pharmacists growing as key role is increasingly
valued; Oncology Times; 8/25/08: This article, featuring Premier
alliance members H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins Hospital, as
well as Premier Senior Director of Pharmacy Affairs Fred Pane, looks at the
role of oncology pharmacists regarding cancer care and the costs associated
with it.
Full story
Premier Breakthroughs Conference: Quality program yields better
patient care; The Journal of Healthcare Contracting; 8/08 issue:
This article looks at Premier’s 2008 Breakthroughs Conference, highlighting
winners of Premier’s Supply Chain awards. It also features an interview with
Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire regarding standardization
of clinical-preference products.
Full story
Strength in numbers: Smaller hospitals and IDNs find market strength
by forming coalitions; The Journal of Healthcare Contracting; 8/08
issue: This article, featuring WNC Health Network and Premier’s Sue
Casey and Krista Marshall, discusses how smaller hospitals and IDNs find
market strength by forming coalitions such as the WNC Health Network.
Full story
Op-ed: It’s flawed, but we can’t find it; Modern Healthcare;
8/25/08:
Alan Yordy, president and chief mission officer of Premier alliance
member PeaceHealth, discusses the importance of implementing
industry-advocated GS1 standards to foster a safer, more efficient
supply chain.
Full story (subscription required)
Web of power; Modern Healthcare; 8/25/08:
Modern Healthcare has announced its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful
People in Healthcare. This year's list includes Premier President and
CEO Richard Norling, as well as a number of Premier alliance members.
Full story (login required)
Medicare posts hospital death rates; The Charlotte (NC) Observer; 8/22/08:
To help consumers make better health care decisions, Medicare has for
the first time published hospital-by-hospital death rates for patients
treated for three common conditions: heart attack, heart failure and
pneumonia. “It's getting a lot better,” said Christine Van Dusen, a
quality measures specialist with Premier. “They're making an effort. But
you don't want to look at just mortality rates to make any determination
of the quality of care that a hospital is providing. That's one part of
it. But you have to look at all of it.”
Full
story
Premier launches health data privacy tool; Healthcare IT News;
8/15/08: Premier Insurance Management Services, Inc., a for-profit
corporation wholly owned by the Premier healthcare alliance, has launched a
new data privacy and network risk liability product for healthcare
facilities. Available to Premier members, the product integrates first- and
third-party coverage into a single convenient policy form and offers
coverage that's typically excluded from other liability insurance policies.
Full story
Proactive planning for sharps safety; Materials Management in Health Care; 8/08 issue:
This article, co-authored by the Premier Safety Institute’s Judene
Bartley, discusses steps hospital professional can take to reduce sharps
injuries.
Full story
Premier’s Robert Dowdy featured as The Risk Retention Reporter
executive of the month for August 2008; The Risk Retention Reporter;
8/08 issue: As president of both American Excess Insurance Exchange,
Risk Retention Group (AEIX), a Vermont-domiciled RRG, and Premier Insurance
Management Services, Inc., its insurance servicing affiliate, Robert Dowdy
has learned that effective competition and peer pressure enhance the desire
for hospital systems to pursue patient safety and quality goals, resulting
in strengthened health care risk management.
Full story (.pdf)
New rules drawing fire; Modern Healthcare; 8/11/08: This
article, featuring Premier’s Blair Childs and Christine Van Dusen, discusses
CMS’ new quality-improvement provisions in the final acute-care inpatient
prospective payment system rule for 2009.
Full story (subscription required)
Standards practice; Modern Healthcare; 8/11/08: This
article, featuring Premier’s Joe Pleasant, looks at how group purchasing
organizations are making a push for hospitals and their suppliers to adopt
universal standards for identifying and tracking medical products across the
supply chain. Premier was the first GPO to endorse such standards.
Full story (subscription required)
Premier criticizes proprietary approaches; Healthcare Finance News;
8/08 issue: This article looks at Premier’s Quality Improvement
Committee, representing 17 hospitals and healthcare systems comprising more
than 100 hospitals, and its stance that quality reporting requiring
proprietary information, tools or methodology is too expensive and sets a
bad precedent.
Full
story
Cover story: Turning data into improved care; Healthcare
Informatics; 8/08 issue: A number of healthcare facilities are
working to transform terabytes of raw data into a guide for better clinical
care. This article features Premier alliance members Gaston Memorial
Hospital and Alegent Health, as well as Stephanie Alexander, Premier's
senior vice president for Healthcare Informatics.
Full story
A larger serving of greens; Modern Healthcare; 8/4/08: This
article, which features Premier member Catholic Healthcare West and Premier
Clinical Nutrition Manager Debby Kasper, looks at how hospitals are seeking
a food supply that's healthier for patients, as well as the planet.
Full story (login required)
Stick up for safety; Healthcare Purchasing News; 8/08 issue:
It’s been eight years now since Congress passed the 2000 Needlestick
Safety and Prevention Act, and experts argue that there is still
improvement to be made in the area of sharps safety. "We’re pretty far
out from the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act and OSHA’s revision
of their standard, but I think that we still have not crossed the finish
line on getting safety to replace traditional devices in all
applications, in all situations," observed Gina Pugliese, vice
president, Premier Safety Institute.
Full story
Premier tells medical device makers to adopt GS1 supply chain
standards; RFID Journal; 7/30/08: This article, featuring Premier
CIO Joe Pleasant, focuses on Premier's endorsement of having medical devices
tracked by Global Trade Item Number and Global Location Number, which could
make it easier for the healthcare sector to implement RFID technology.
Full
story
Reconciling differences; Modern Healthcare; 7/28/08: This
article, featuring Premier CIO Joe Pleasant, discusses Premier’s endorsement
of GS1 standards and general collaboration with the healthcare supply chain.
Full story (subscription required)
New era of preventing birth-related deaths; Materials Management in
Health Care; 7/08 issue: This article discusses the Premier
Perinatal Safety Initiative and general safety in the OB suite, featuring
insights from IHI’s Maureen Bisognano.
Full story
Device identification, synchronization can boost patient safety;
Healthcare's Most Wired Magazine; 7/22/08: This article by Premier
CIO Joe Pleasant discusses the importance of standardization in the
healthcare supply chain to save time, money and most importantly, patients’
lives.
Full story
As consumers take charge, hospitals see changes ahead; Healthcare
Finance News; 7/08 issue: Radical changes in healthcare will not put
hospitals at the center of the healthcare delivery system – instead moving
the focus of care further upstream. That’s a positive change, albeit a scary
one for most hospitals, and one that facilities will need to make, said
executives of several top hospitals in an exclusive roundtable discussion at
the annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition sponsored by Premier Inc.
This article features Premier alliance members Methodist Medical Center of
Illinois and Summa Health, as well as Premier COO Susan DeVore
Full story
Greenhouse gas laws leave hospitals up in the air; Healthcare
Finance News; 7/08 issue: This article looks at new restrictions
that the government is placing on the healthcare industry to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, featuring insights from Premier Safety Institute
Vice President Gina Pugliese.
Full story
Hunting down HAI: Automated tracking technology; Healthcare Purchasing News; 7/08 issue:
This article looks at automated infection control surveillance and features
Premier's SafetySurveillor tool, as well as Premier’s Jeff Petry and Salah
Qutaishat.
Full
story
Op-ed: To protect little bundles of joy, we should try bundling care
processes to reduce avoidable childbirth injuries; Modern Healthcare;
6/30/08: "Nowhere is reliable, evidence-based care more important than
in the obstetrics suite. Yet infants in the U.S. experience nearly three
birth injuries for every 1,000 deliveries, many of which are preventable. To
address this troubling issue, 16 hospitals from 12 states have collaborated
with leading perinatal-care experts and the Premier healthcare alliance in
the Perinatal Safety Initiative, a project designed to achieve consistent
delivery of evidence-based care with the goal of eliminating preventable
birth-related injuries and deaths," writes Premier COO Susan DeVore.
Full story (subscription required)
Infectious dilemma; Modern Healthcare; 6/30/08: Hospitals
across the country are devising uncertain battle plans for a payer-mandated
war on healthcare-associated infections. Premier decided in 2006 to get into
the business by acquiring the Cereplex system, which it renamed
SafetySurveillor, and has experienced rapid adoption of the system by both
member and nonmember hospitals, said Jeff Petry, vice president of Premier
Healthcare Informatics.
Full story (login required)
Worldy dealing; Modern Healthcare; 6/30/08: A small but
growing number of U.S. healthcare systems are creating international
partnerships that capitalize on America's reputation as a
healthcare-standards bearer. To that end, Premier will use a
pay-for-performance program it is building for England's North West
Strategic Health Authority to launch a clinical goal-sharing initiative
between U.S. and British hospital administrators. The clinical-performance
project begins in October, but Premier has hosted monthly calls since
January between U.S. and British hospital officials in preparation of the
launch.
Full story (subscription required)
Hospitals part of experiment; The (Lakeland, FL) Ledger;
6/29/08: Perform well and get rewards. Score low and face the
consequences. Winter Haven and South Florida Baptist hospitals encountered
that carrot-or-stick approach during a demonstration project that may lead
to nationwide changes in how Medicare pays hospitals. They were among more
than 250 hospitals in a pay-for-performance program the federal government
did with members of Premier healthcare alliance. Premier released the latest
data from the project this month.
Full story
Commentary: CAMC is providing top-notch health care; Charleston
(WV) Daily Mail; 6/25/08:
An op-ed from Dr. Glenn Crotty, chief operating officer of Premier
alliance member Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC), discusses CAMC's
overall successes, as well as its success in the Premier, CMS Hospital
Quality Incentive Demonstration project.
Full
story
Kettering Medical Center earns Medicare reimbursement bonus; Dayton (OH) Daily News; 6/23/08:
Kettering Medical Center earned a $175,701 bonus in Medicare
reimbursements for hip- and knee-replacement surgeries by meeting
quality criteria, the most of more than 250 U.S. hospitals in a
demonstration project for the second consecutive year. KMC-Sycamore
earned an extra $15,283 for its top-10-percent ranking for pneumonia
care in the same CMS/Premier pay-for-performance program.
Full story
Island hospitals and doctors honored in study and ranking; Staten Island Advance; 6/23/08:
Staten Islanders have some of the best health care in the country
available to them according to accolades recently bestowed upon Staten
Island University Hospital and Richmond University Medical Center. SIUH
received high praise from a new study, the CMS/Premier
pay-for-performance project, ranking first in New York and sixth in the
country in five quality care indicators. The Heart Institute, jointly
owned by SIUH and RUMC, earned particular recognition, receiving the
second highest rank in the country for coronary artery bypass graft
surgery.
Full story
CMS pays out $7 million; Modern Healthcare; 6/23/08:
Top performers in the third year of the CMS, Premier hospital
pay-for-performance demonstration project said that the key to success
has been getting all clinical staff on board with the idea, and showing
a strong commitment to quality at the top.
Full story (login required)
Health-care cooks from four states at MTI for culinary clinic; The (Mitchell, SD) Daily Republic;
6/18/08:
This story discusses Premier’s Culinary Clinic stop in South Dakota and
features comments from alliance member Avera Queen of Peace Hospital, as
well as Debby Kasper, manager of clinical nutrition for Premier.
Full story (login required)
Mon, WVUH tops in care project; The Dominion Post (WV)/West Virginia Hospital
Association; 6/18/08:
Mon General and WVU Hospitals received high rankings in a Hospital
Quality Incentive Demonstration project conducted by Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services and Premier health care alliance.
Full story
Aurora hospitals stand out; They improved over time in Medicare study;
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 6/18/08:
More than four years ago, Aurora Health Care signed up for a project
based on a radical concept. Medicare would pay hospitals bonuses tied to
the quality of patient care, and how the hospitals performed would be
publicly disclosed. Aurora's hospitals overall started in the middle of
the pack. Now four of them are standouts, and all of them are strong
performers.
Full story
Medicare awards nearly $25M in hospital P4P pilot;
Healthcare IT News; 6/18/08:
A pay-for-performance project has resulted in a 15.8 percent boost in
quality over three years at 250 hospitals across the country, the
Premier healthcare alliance reported Tuesday. The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services awarded nearly $25 million under the joint initiative
with Premier.
Full story
South Miami Hospital rewarded for its care; Miami Herald; 6/17/08:
South Miami Hospital has received the highest total award in Florida in
the Premier/CMS HQID project and was the only hospital in the state to
receive awards in four clinical areas.
Full
story
CMS awards $7 million in P4P project; Modern Healthcare; 6/17/08:
The CMS is awarding $7 million to 112 top-performing hospitals in the
third year of its pay-for-performance project with Premier, concluding
that results show substantial and continual improvement among the 250
participating hospitals in 36 states.
Full story (login required)
Online auction designed to lower hospitals’ energy costs; Premier
program might lead to healthy savings; San Diego Business Journal;
6/16/08: Hospitals are notorious energy users, running lights all day
and night, using high-powered equipment, and keeping operating rooms cool.
But energy management initiatives often take a back seat to more pressing
medical concerns, such as patient care and equipment needs. Premier's new
energy initiative aimed at helping hospitals cut their energy costs between
6 percent and 12 percent is designed to change the status quo.
Full story
Frist says health care reform unlikely in next four years; The City
Paper (Nashville, TN); 6/13/08: Former Tennessee Senator Bill Frist
told a group of hospital officials on Friday that systemic health care
reform is not likely to happen under the next president. Frist, a Republican
and the former Senate Majority Leader until his retirement from the Senate
in 2006, spoke to an annual conference of Premier Inc. He was joined by
another former senator, Democrat Bill Bradley, for a question and answer
session.
FFull
story
Premier healthcare alliance opposes part of CMS reporting proposal; HealthLeaders
Media; 6/12/08:
Looking to prevent a significant labor and cost burden on America's hospitals,
CEOs from 17 hospitals and health systems have sent a letter to the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services, strongly objecting to some of the required date
reporting included in the 2009 proposed Inpatient Prospective Payment System
rule. The 17 CEOs represent more than 100 hospitals – all members of the Premier
healthcare alliance.
Full story
Proposed doc-pay boost hailed; quality steps urged; Modern
Healthcare; 6/9/08: Providers applauded the payment boosts in Senate
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus’ Medicare reform bill, but thought
more could have been done on quality measures. The bill includes many
important provisions to help hospitals better serve patients, particularly
in vulnerable rural areas, Blair Childs, senior vice president of public
affairs with the Premier healthcare alliance, said in a written statement.
However, Childs said he hoped eventually to see the inclusion of a
“well-designed Medicare hospital value-based purchasing program. We also
anticipate seeing provisions addressing quality incentives in any future
bipartisan compromise moving forward.”
Full story (login required)
National safety effort targets perinatal injuries; American Medical
News; 6/16/08 issue: Improved doctor-nurse communication and strict
adherence to guideline-based care "bundles" can eliminate preventable birth
trauma, say project leaders of Premier's Perinatal Safety Initiative. This
article features Premier COO Susan DeVore, as well as alliance members
Kettering Health Network and Aurora West Allis Medical Center.
Full
story
Cover story: Good is never enough for P4P; Hospital & Health
Networks; 6/6/08: This article looks at the first three years of the
Premier, CMS HQID project, featuring insights from Premier Senior Vice
President Stephanie Alexander, along with alliance members Fairview Health
Services, Saint Vincent Health System, Aurora Health Care and Hackensack
University Medical Center.
Full story
Alliance scores big savings: Oregon non-profit hospitals announce $32
million in savings for 2007; ADVANCE for Healthcare Executives; 5/08 issue:
With the state of the economy at the forefront of everybody's mind,
every industry, including health care, is looking for ways to cut costs.
A group of Oregon hospitals found one solution by adhering to the
best-practices model. They have joined the Premier healthcare alliance
to examine what actions other successful hospitals have taken to save
money and maintain or improve their customers' health care experiences.
Through this alliance, 11 non-profit Oregon hospitals generated nearly
$32 million in savings in 2007, and more than $123 million since 2000.
The savings have been reinvested to improve the health of Oregon's
communities.
Full story
The rise of foreign agents; Modern Healthcare; 5/26/08:
This article, featuring comments Premier and members GNYHA and Baptist
Health South Florida, discusses costs and safety related to offshoring
of medical supplies.
Full story
Premier launches initiative to reduce energy costs for healthcare
industry; Healthcare Finance News; 5/22/08:
The Premier healthcare alliance has launched an initiative to address
energy costs by increasing the use of renewable energy and reducing the
industry's carbon footprint.
Full
story
For hospitals, it’s not easy being green; The Wall Street Journal health blog; 5/21/08:
This article spotlights Premier's new SPHERE initiative, aimed at
reducing the healthcare industry's carbon footprint, featuring insights
from Premier Safety Institute Vice President Gina Pugliese.
Full story
Baystate Medical Center discusses participation in Premier Perinatal
Safety Initiative; ABC-TV (Springfield, MA); 5/16/08: This video
clip features representatives from Premier alliance member Baystate Medical
Center discussing the Premier Perinatal Safety Initiative.
Video (.wmv file)
Baystate joining group to assist in childbirth care; The (Springfield, MA) Reminder; 5/15/08:
Premier alliance member Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA, has
joined 15 other Premier alliance hospitals in a national initiative to
eliminate preventable harm to babies and mothers in late pregnancy and
during the labor and delivery process.
Full story
Quality is more than a simple buzzword; Healthcare Finance News; 5/08 issue:
This article looks at the multiple definitions of quality, featuring
insights from Premier's Stephanie Alexander and Blair Childs.
Full
story
Hospitals will use IT to reduce birth injuries and deaths; InformationWeek; 5/15/08:
This article looks at the IT aspect of the Premier Perinatal Safety
Initiative, featuring insights from Kettering Health Care and Premier.
Full story
Area hospitals join effort to seek safer start for newborns; (Fort Worth, TX) Star-Telegram; 5/15/08:
A safety initiative being introduced at two North Texas hospitals could
eliminate preventable injuries and deaths among newborns nationwide.
Harris Methodist Fort Worth and Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas are the
only two hospitals in Texas to participate in an initiative designed to
change the way high-risk pregnancies are treated in the United States.
The 21-month Premier Perinatal Safety Initiative is designed to improve
safety, increase teamwork and enhance communication.
Full story
Hospital staffs train for safe delivery of babies; USA Today; 5/15/08:
Sixteen hospitals from the Premier healthcare alliance are leading a new
effort to reduce birth injuries, and have committed to following a set
of guidelines that are proven to reduce harm during the birthing
process. This article features insight from alliance members Aurora
Health Care and Texas Health Resources, along with Premier’s Susan
DeVore and Kathy Connolly.
Full story
Summa joins new perinatal initiative; Akron (OH) Beacon Journal; 5/15/08:
Premier alliance member Summa Health System is among 16 hospitals
nationwide trying to give birth to national standards that could make
labor and delivery safer for some newborns and their mothers. This
article features insights from Summa, along with Kettering Health
Network and Premier.
Full story
Data analysis generates savings at hospitals, practices; Charlotte Business Journal; 5/9/08:
This article, featuring Premier COO Susan DeVore and alliance member
Cleveland County HealthCare System, looks at how hospitals are cutting
costs without affecting patient care, using products such as Premier's
OperationsAdvisor.
Full story
Efforts growing to raise the bar on healthcare quality; Healthcare Finance News; 5/1/08:
This article by Premier President and CEO Rick Norling discusses a
recent Premier analysis of the Premier, CMS HQID project, and touches on
the importance of an appropriate value-based purchasing program.
Full
story
Road to value; The American Hospital Association; 4/23/08:
This interview, part of the AHA’s Quality Center executive interview series,
features Premier COO Susan DeVore discussing today’s quality landscape.
Full story
QUEST launches supplier improvement program; Digital Healthcare & Productivity; 4/22/08:
Premier recently kicked off the QUEST Supplier Innovation Program aimed
at testing and evaluating new technologies. The idea is to integrate
suppliers into its existing QUEST performance initiative. The program,
which launched on April 15, will be open to any interested suppliers.
Full story
The big picture; Journal of Healthcare Contracting; 4/08 issue:
This article looks at various aspects of patient safety and features
Premier’s Gina Pugliese, as well as Premier’s SafetySurveillor Web-based
tool used to detect and alert staff of healthcare-associated infections.
Full story
Patients generally pleased with hospital care; American Medical
News; 4/21/08 issue: This article, featuring insight from Premier's
Blair Childs, looks at a recent study suggesting that patients are pleased
with the quality of care they receive in hospitals.
Full
story
Why generic injectables are taking center stage; Drug Topics;
4/14/08: Generic injectable products are coming into the market. This
article details the flood of new entrants, featuring comments from Premier's
Fred Pane, senior director of Pharmacy Affairs.
Full story
WellPoint joins 'never' crusade; Modern Healthcare; 4/7/08:
This article, featuring Premier's Gina Pugliese, discusses insurer
WellPoint’s decision to stop paying for medical errors that are the most
preventable.
Full story (subscription required)
Coalition calls on FDA to act on medical-device ID scheme;
Government Health IT; 4/2/08: This article features Premier's Blair
Childs discussing the Food and Drug Administration's proposed rule and
timeline for setting up a mandatory unique identification system for medical
devices.
Full story
Weighing glove options: A balance of safety, comfort and costs;
Healthcare Purchasing News; 4/08 issue: This article looks at the
various options in selecting a proper surgical glove, featuring comments
from Premier Safety Institute Vice President Gina Pugliese.
Full
story
CMS Web site gives consumers more buying data; Healthcare Finance
News; 3/31/08:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday updated the
Hospital Compare Web site to give consumers more information about their
hospitals. "The Premier healthcare alliance commends CMS and HHS for
taking steps to make information, such as patient satisfaction, more
readily available to the public through its Hospital Compare consumer
Web site," said Blair Childs, Premier's senior vice president of public
affairs. "Premier (has) learned that a combination of publicly reported
information and financial incentives drive quality improvement. Premier
believes that patient satisfaction is a very important part of the
healthcare experience and supports CMS's actions to make this
information publicly available."
Full
story
Clinicians on board for supply chain redesign; Repertoire; 3/08
issue: This article discusses the role of clinicians in the supply chain
and features Chris Meyers Janda, vice president for supply chain at Fairview
Health Services, a Premier alliance member.
Full story
Healthcare: Getting what you pay for; Hospitals & Health Networks; 3/08
issue: "Solving our nation's health care conundrum can be as perplexing
as it is troubling. Our goal must be to improve quality while safely
reducing costs. What is inspiring and encouraging is that hospitals are
fixing health care from the inside by uniting to attain this goal. While
progress is being made, important reforms must be implemented to ensure this
progress continues in the right direction," writes Premier Chief Operating
Officer Susan DeVore in this editorial article.
Full story
Never land; Trustee Magazine; 3/08 issue:
This article, featuring Premier Safety Institute Vice President Gina Pugliese, looks at Medicare’s plan to
reduce payment to hospitals for certain events, as well as what hospitals are
doing to prepare for this ruling.
Full story
Progressive pilots; Materials Management in Health Care; 3/08
issue:
This Q&A, featuring Premier Senior Vice President and Chief Information
Officer Joe Pleasant, discusses the Global Data
Synchronization Network pilot, which was recently introduced to the
healthcare industry, suggesting that data synchronization within the healthcare
supply chain is possible.
Full story
Walla Walla hospital chosen for congressional recognition;
Tri-City (WA) Herald; 3/17/08:
St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, WA, will be recognized by the
U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday for its 2007 achievements in
providing patients affordable rates, few complications and low mortality
rates. St. Mary was ranked among the top 1 percent of hospitals
nationwide for providing exceptional patient care by Premier Inc., one
of the largest health care alliances in the U.S.
Full story
Cover story: Never pay never again; Modern Healthcare; 3/10/08:
This article looks at what hospitals are doing, including participating
in Premier's QUEST initiative, to prepare for CMS' IPPS ruling in
October of 2008. Representatives from Texas health Resources, Summa
Health System, Kettering Medical Center and Premier are quoted.
Full story (login required)
Caution urged on CMS' value-based purchasing; Modern Healthcare; 3/10/08:
At a roundtable last week hosted by the Senate Finance Committee, major
healthcare provider groups asked the CMS to proceed with caution on its proposal
to reimburse hospitals based on quality of care, known as value-based
purchasing. “If the short-term focus is to try to reduce Medicare spending, as
opposed to a longer-term focus on improving quality and achieving cost
reductions,” value-based purchasing will lose credibility among providers, said
Richard Norling, president and chief executive officer of Premier.
Full story (login required)
Johns Hopkins nursing program wins national honor; NurseWeek; 3/10/08:
The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing birth companions program is one
of only six organizations nationally to receive the 16th annual Monroe E. Trout
Premier Cares Award. The award, which is sponsored by Premier Inc., honors
efforts by nonprofit organizations to improve access to health care for the
underserved.
Full story
MSHA installs extra 'eyes' in hospitals; Johnson City (TN) Press; 3/8/08:
Mountain States Health Alliance officials have enlisted the help of
Premier's SafetySurveillor to help fight hospitals infections and keep
track of operations in five of its hospitals.
Full story
Hospitals boost infection surveillance; Health Data Management; 3/7/08:
Mountain States Health Alliance is implementing Web-hosted infection
surveillance software in five of its 14 hospitals. The Johnson City, TN-based
delivery system is using the SafetySurveillor software from Premier Inc.
Full story
Spend analytics tool saves hospital $2 million;
Healthcare Finance News; 3/6/08:
Officials at Alamance Regional Medical Center in Burlington, NC, report they were able to save $2
million on supplies last year by using Premier’s SpendAdvisor spending analytics
tool that allowed physicians to identify savings opportunities.
Full story
National Quality Forum ups performance ante; Modern Healthcare;
3/4/08: This article discusses the possible addition of performance
measures by the National Quality Forum and features comments from Premier's
Richard Bankowitz. If endorsed, the measures will then be considered
performance standards and used to measure and compare the quality of care
delivered at hospitals across the nation.
Full story (login required)
CMS, state mandates tap Web sites, IT systems to cut infections;
iHealthBeat; 2/21/08: Hospitals, as well as state and federal
initiatives, are targeting hospital-acquired infections with a common goal:
reducing errors to save patients' lives. The overarching goal of all of
these initiatives is to entirely eliminate preventable hospital-acquired
infections. And there is "evidence that it's achievable" based on a December
2006 study in the New England Journal of Medicine on reducing
catheter-related bloodstream infections, according to Salah Qutaishat,
epidemiologist and director of Infection Prevention and Control for Premier.
Full story
How green are you? Healthcare providers adding eco-friendly buying to
their routine; Healthcare Purchasing News; 3/08 issue: This
article, featuring the Premier Safety Institute's Gina Pugliese and Premier
member Catholic Healthcare West, discusses how a growing spate of healthcare
organizations are getting serious about environmentally conscious
purchasing, in some cases stressing cultural and social responsibility in
the same breath as pricing, features and benefits.
Full story
Study shows EMR, quality connection still weak; Modern Healthcare;
2/26/08: The jury is still out on whether electronic medical records
directly improve quality in healthcare facilities, although EMRs might help
lead to shorter patient stays, according to research presented at the
Healthcare Information Management Systems Society annual meeting in Orlando,
Fla. In a partnership with HIMSS Analytics, Premier studied the correlation
between quality and efficiency metrics and EMR adoption rates in hospitals.
Full story (login required)
Clinical pharmacists advance into all areas of medical treatment; Drug Topics; 2/25/08:
This article looks at the role of hospital pharmacists as they continue
to advance into all areas of medical treatment and features Premier
members Homestead Hospital and Avera McKennan Hospital, as well as
Premier's Scott Pope.
Full story
GS1 Healthcare US helps push data standards for industry; Materials
Management in Health Care; 2/08 issue: The health care industry is
one of the last to adopt universal product standards. But the industry is
catching up in a hurry, according to long-time standards advocate, Joe
Pleasant, Premier's chief information officer. "Better late than never" may
well be the sentiment when a group of health care standards advocates
convenes for the first time in March.
Full story
Mercy Iowa City Hospital saves thousands of dollars by revamping
procedure packs; Materials Management in Health Care; 2/08 issue:
Procedure packs can help save staff time and improve a hospital’s bottom
line when they contain only necessary supplies. Rethinking the composition
of procedure packs can reveal large savings opportunities, as Mercy Iowa
City Hospital found after a yearlong review of supply use in its cardiac
catheterization laboratory. Mercy was one of 15 hospitals participating in
the most recent Collaborative Breakthrough Series sponsored by Premier.
Full story
Aurora finds savings in health quality project; The Business Journal of Milwaukee; 2/22/08:
Aurora Health Care's participation in the Premier, Medicare P4P
demonstration project helped the Milwaukee-based hospital system save
$3.5 million in treating certain medical conditions. "It has been really
transformative in terms of quality and safety for all of our patients,"
Dr. Nick Turkal said of Aurora's participation in the project, which
involved all 12 of Aurora's hospitals.
Full story
Bonus bucks in medicine; The San Diego Union-Tribune; 2/24/08:
This article examines the Premier, Medicare P4P demonstration project,
featuring project participant Palomar Medical Center. The article also
quotes Stephanie Alexander, who leads Premier's Healthcare Informatics
unit; and Evan Benjamin vice president of healthcare quality for Premier
member Baystate Health.
Full story
Hidden hazard: Hospitals target lurking latex; The Wall Street
Journal; 2/20/08: Amid mounting concern about allergic reactions,
many hospitals are trying to eliminate latex. However, patients still need
to be vigilant: the material is found in so many products, it's easy to miss
items that contain trace amounts. The push to cut out latex has accelerated
in the past year. The U.S. military is calling for latex-free products in a
number of new contracts for its medical facilities, and Premier Inc., a
large hospital purchasing cooperative, is issuing the group-purchasing
industry's most comprehensive latex-free catalog.
Full story
Latest American export: Pay for performance; Psychiatric News;
2/1/08: The pay-for-performance concept, which is making inroads
throughout the United States, has also made a leap "across the pond" to
England. First family practitioners there were affected. Now hospitals are
as well. The North West Strategic Health Authority, which is part of
England's National Health Service, has commissioned Premier to implement a
P4P demonstration project in hospitals and other health-care sites in
northwest England.
Full story
Hospital P4P improves care, lowers costs and saves lives, study shows;
Healthcare Finance News; 2/4/08: Premier Inc. has announced the
results of a study on Medicare hospital pay-for-performance, revealing
improved quality of care, lower costs and declining patient mortality rates.
Full
story
Medicare bonus program also pays off with knowledge; The
(Springfield, IL) State Journal Register; 2/3/08: This article looks
at Memorial Medical Center's efforts in the Premier, CMS HQID P4P project.
("Full story" link no longer active)
Baystate official notes keys to success; The (Springfield, MA)
Republican; 2/1/08:
Evan Benjamin, MD, FACP, chief quality officer at Baystate Medical
Center in Springfield, MA, told a national forum at a Premier event
yesterday that transparency at hospitals is one of the most important
factors in promoting safer and better hospital care.
Full story
Premier cites gains under CMS P4P initiative; Modern Healthcare;
2/1/08: Hospital costs and mortality rates are declining under a CMS
pay-for-performance project, according to an analysis released by the
Premier healthcare alliance. The Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration
project was launched by the alliance and the CMS in 2003 to find out if
economic incentives improve inpatient care at hospitals. Apparently, they
do.
Full story (login required)
Small incentives to hospitals could pay big quality dividends; The
Wall Street Journal health blog; 1/31/08: Could tying even tiny
amounts of hospitals’ reimbursement to clinical performance save 70,000
lives and $4.5 billion a year? That’s today’s bold projection from Premier
Inc., a hospital group that has been running Medicare’s “pay for
performance” pilot project. Premier says the
analysis it’s releasing today shows great results.
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Beyond the financial rewards of pay-for-performance; HealthLeaders
Media; 1/21/08: This article looks at pay-for-performance, citing
the Premier 2006 Performance Pays study.
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Organizations large and small strive for excellence; San Diego
Business Journal; 1/21/08: This article looks at why healthcare
organizations value the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. "There's a
whole focus on excellence, not trends," said Rick Norling, chief executive
officer and president of Premier Inc. "They're looking at best practices …
They find the benchmark. They're always pushing us to get better and
better." Premier received the award in 2006.
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Supply chain tool creates healthy data for hospitals; Business
Intelligence Journal, Volume 12, Number 4; 1/08 issue: This article
takes an in-depth look at Premier's SpendAdvisor spend-management decision
making tool that is helping member hospitals simplify the spending contract
management process, resulting in saving millions of dollars.
Full story (.pdf)
Cover story: Banking on data analytics; Materials Management in
Health Care; 1/08 issue: This article, featuring Premier members
Summa (on the cover), GNYHA, Mississippi Baptist Health System and Child
Health Corporation of America, discusses how more materials managers are
turning to data analytics software to help them make the most of their
existing data and to aid them in creating a healthier bottom line.
Full story
Transforming healthcare; Healthcare Exec; 1/08 issue: This
article discusses Premier’s efforts to transform the healthcare system and
features an extensive interview with Premier COO Susan DeVore.
Full story