Premier in the news
2009 archive
Advancing Quality scoops prestigious award; NHS North West Web site;
December 2009: Advancing Quality, the United Kingdom's first
hospital-based pay-for-performance (P4P) effort, was honored at the 2009 HSJ
Awards, taking home the top award for "Using Data to Improve Care." Run by
the NHS North West, Advancing Quality utilizes Premier's Hospital Quality
Incentive Demonstration (HQID) P4P project with the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) as a model for improving patient care in the North
West region of England.
Full story
Thinking like an enterprise rewards; Healthcare IT News;
12/31/09: A year ago, Premier, Inc., began a journey to transform its
software product development efforts. It needed to respond quicker to
changes in the marketplace, improve the quality of its offerings and deliver
products to customers more quickly. Susan DeVore, Premier's CEO, calls this
"thinking like an enterprise" – everyone focused together, driving product
development from business, not technical, needs. Lean-Agile Software
Development formed the basis of this transformation.
Full story
Leftover medical supplies put to use abroad; National Public Radio;
12/29/09: Elizabeth McLellan has been a nurse for more than 30 years. But
she has never been able to get over how many perfectly good medical supplies
– millions of dollars' worth – get thrown out each year by U.S. hospitals.
Don Hancock, a vice president for Premier, a company that negotiates bulk
purchases for hospitals, says supplies become outdated before hospitals get
a chance to use them. "Maybe you have invested in some inventory with a
physician who no longer is with you, or maybe there is a new procedure that
came out that can supersede an old procedure, and you no longer need the
supplies for that old procedure," Hancock says.
Full story
Senate passes healthcare bill; Healthcare IT News; 12/24/09:
Industry organizations are discussing the healthcare bills in the House and
the Senate. Blair Childs, senior vice president of Public Affairs, with
Premier says, "Premier continues to have serious concerns about the
legislation’s hospital readmission and healthcare-acquired condition (HAC)
policies."
Full story
McKasson named CFO for Premier; Modern Healthcare; 12/14/09:
The group purchasing and healthcare-quality improvement organization Premier
has promoted Craig McKasson to senior vice president and chief financial
officer, effective January 1, 2010.
Full story (login required)
Battling H1N1; Materials Management in Health Care; 12/8/09:
With resources already stretched and vaccine distribution slow, hospital
infection prevention leaders fight fatigue as well as the virus. Judene
Bartley, clinical and safety consultant for the Premier Safety Institute, is
among those who are confident that conditions will improve.
Full story
A long way to go; Modern Healthcare; 12/7/09: Premier's
six-year-long Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) project was
conducted in partnership with the CMS. The program shows that providers,
focused on process improvement, can bring about systematic improvement, says
Susan DeVore, Premier's president and CEO.
Full story
CDC video urges patients to insist they witness provider hand-washing;
Health Leaders Media; 12/7/09: Premier conducted a
before-and-after survey at 17 Catholic Health Partners hospitals in Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee to determine whether patients who watched the video
were more likely to speak up or consider doing so if they didn't see their
caregiver wash or use sanitizer at the bedside.
Full story
Cost cuts to stay; Materials Management in Health Care;
12/7/09: Mike Alkire, president, Premier Purchasing Partners, a division
of Premier healthcare alliance, says the recession's financial impact is
forcing hospitals and supply chain leaders to take a hard look at whether a
product's effectiveness justifies its cost. That means rethinking how to
manage PPI spending.
Full story
CDC, Premier healthcare alliance research in hospitals shows patients
can help improve hand hygiene among doctors, nurses; Medical News Today;
12/6/09: Experts from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the
Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP) health system and the Premier Safety
Institute will announce new research showing that encouraging patients to
remind visitors and healthcare staff to disinfect their hands can be an
effective way to improve hand hygiene.
Full story
Why my dad would be proud of this city; The Charlotte (N.C.)
Observer; 12/4/09: Charlotte's mayor says the city has become a
major economic hub, attracting 18,697 new businesses and 257,000 jobs thanks
to certain companies in town including Premier Inc.
Full
story
Revise the supply chain to reduce costs, experts say; Medill Reports;
12/3/09: Andy Brailo with Premier comments on the healthcare industry's
supply chain process.
Full story
Premier looks to branch out; Health Data Management; 11/24/09:
Through its Healthcare Informatics division, provider alliance Premier Inc.
offers a range of information technology services focusing on data
analytics, and supply chain, infection control and labor management. Keith
Figlioli, recently appointed senior vice president of the informatics
division, is looking for more ways to use Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier's
treasure trove of comparative data from member hospitals.
Full story
Premier inflation summary; Healthcare Purchasing News;
11/24/09: Premier's Drug Budget Development Tool analyzes the top 85
percent of drug purchases, both on-contract and non-contract items based on
July 2008 through June 2009 member purchases.
Full
story
Senate health reform bill set for vote; Healthcare Finance News;
11/20/09: The Senate version of the bill includes a budget-neutral
expansion of the hospital value-based purchasing program that was removed
from the House bill at the last minute. Blair Childs, senior vice president
of public affairs with Premier, shares his comments on the bill.
Full story
Reid's health bill includes CLASS act, opt-out public option and
lowered device tax; Inside Health Policy; 11/18/09: Premier
comments on the Senate health reform bill, strongly supporting many elements
of the legislation, particularly the budget neutral expansion of the
hospital value-based purchasing program.
Full story (subscription required)
A heavy footprint; Modern Healthcare; 11/16/09:
Environmental mandates may follow healthcare reform as the next big
revolution that providers face, with some healthcare providers working to
have a say in the matter. Gina Pugliese, vice president of the Premier
Safety Institute, says she has had a 400 percent increase in hospitals
calling to talk about their green initiatives and sees a huge interest.
Full story (subscription required)
Privacy breach rules require practices to report only harm done;
American Medical News; 11/16/09: Premier, an alliance of hospitals
and health organizations whose members share clinical data with each other,
wrote letters to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius endorsing what is called
the harm threshold.
Full
story
Charlotte hospitals hold steady on buying equipment; Charlotte
Business Journal; 11/13/09: John Biggers, a vice president with
Premier, says he has absolutely seen a slowdown if not an actual freeze in
technology purchases because the dollars hospitals have to spend is way
down.
Full story (subscription required)
Cover story: Making a positive ID; Materials Management in Health
Care; 11/13/09: After much work and research, the FDA is preparing
to publish a proposed rule for unique device identifier (UDI) standards for
medical devices. The UDI would be used to identify a vast array of medical
products and would streamline the hospital supply chain while improving
patient safety. But getting hospital supply chain leaders, manufacturers,
group purchasing organizations and others to embrace UDI standards won't be
easy. Right now, Joe Pleasant from Premier notes, manufacturers still
control product information. "When the FDA issues a recall, all they can do
is say, 'If you bought the product in a certain period of time, you must
recall it.' They can't specifically identify it."
Full story
Pay-for-performance healthcare reimbursement catching on;
Pittsburgh Business Times; 11/13/09: Medicare is conducting a
pay-for-performance demonstration project with Premier involving several
medical conditions, and the agency has indicated that future increases in
all hospital reimbursements will be tied to improvements in clinical
performance.
Full story
Seven percent of Premier hospitals increase lives saved - can the
other 93 percent follow suit?; The New Health Dialogue Blog;
11/12/09: Premier just reported excellent quality results from a
year-long initiative. It's called QUEST, which stands for Quality,
Efficiency, Safety, and Transparency. The participating hospitals calculated
that they saved more than 8,000 lives.
Full story
Data for dollars; Healthcare Financial Management Association;
11/12/09: As the debate around healthcare reform continues in
Washington, a few consistent themes are emerging around the issue of
modifying care delivery and reimbursement models. Randy Thomas, a vice
president with Premier, offers her perspective.
Full story
UDI supporters optimistic on language inclusion in health reform bill;
Inside Health Policy; 11/11/09: "The distressing reality is that
we can identify and remove tainted peanut butter and dog food from the
market before reaching consumers, but in healthcare, patients risk having a
recalled medical device used in their treatment because there is no way to
quickly and reliably locate a recalled device," Blair Childs, senior vice
president of public affairs at the Premier healthcare alliance, said in a
statement. He added that improved tracking of medical devices could save $16
billion per year.
Full story (subscription required)
The hows and whos of Six Sigma; Healthcare Purchasing News;
11/11/09: Want to know how supply chain management adopt and implement
Six Sigma methodologies and techniques in their facilities, including how to
choose the right people to participate in the process? Jamie Jenkins,
manager and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt with Premier, shares his thoughts.
(Appears at the bottom of the article)
Full story
What health reform looks like in the real world, right now; Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation health reform blog; 11/10/09: Susan DeVore,
the CEO of Premier, writes about the lessons health reformers can learn from
Premier's efforts to drive quality improvement and costs savings in
hospitals.
Full story
Good Shepherd earns national honors; Longview (TX) News-Journal;
11/8/09: Good Shepherd Medical Center recently was recognized by two
national organizations for providing low-cost quality care and for being
honored by the patients it serves. It saved on average $1,090 per patient,
according to results of a study of 157 not-for-profit hospitals in 31 states
titled "QUEST: High Performing Hospitals." The information was released by
Premier Inc. health care alliance and included urban and rural, large and
small and teaching and non-teaching facilities.
Full story
Message to hospitals: Prepare for significant change; Healthcare
Finance News; 11/6/09: Blair Childs, Senior Vice President of Public
Affairs with Premier, was the keynote speaker at the Healthcare Finance News
Virtual Conference and Exhibition. Childs says hospitals in particular must
pay heed to the payment reforms that are almost certain to be part of final
Congressional healthcare legislation.
Full story
Hospital spending outlook brightens; Healthcare Finance News;
11/6/09: Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners, a
division of the Premier healthcare alliance, shares his thoughts on the
economic outlook as it pertains to hospital spending.
Full story
The L&D app: Remote monitoring connects OB teams and patients;
NurseZone; 11/6/09: If you are a busy obstetrician, nurse midwife or
L&D nurse, monitoring patients in labor while providing other essential
patient care services can be a challenge. Now, as the commercials say,
"There's an app for that." "In addition to the impact to physicians and
nurses, the improvement in safety is a patient benefit," said Andy Brailo,
vice president of strategic accounts for the Premier healthcare alliance
based in Charlotte, N.C. "Remote monitoring increases the patients'
confidence in the hospital."
Full story
House vote imminent, but not everyone pleased with way bill shaped up;
Modern Healthcare; 11/2/09: Hospital industry officials are
concerned that some provisions in the bill could negatively affect their
bottom line. The industry took issue with language that would essentially
reduce Medicare payments for hospitals with high readmission rates for
certain conditions. "We feel that, in the long term, any hospital
readmissions policy should be based on risk-adjusted, rate-based measures
that are integrated into value-based purchasing to incentivize the
systematic reduction of preventable readmissions," said Blair Childs, with
Premier.
Full story
Commentary: A diversifying economy in Charlotte; Charlotte Business
Journal; 10/30/09: "It's no secret we face uncertain economic times, on a
national and local level. In Charlotte, we've taken great pride – and
rightfully so – in our stature as the country's second-largest banking
center. While banking remains important, we are not a one-industry economy.
Charlotte is also a national leader in providing high quality and innovative
health care," writes Premier President and CEO Susan DeVore.
Full story (subscription required)
Kettering Health Network hospitals fare well in voluntary rankings;
Dayton (OH) Daily News; 10/30/09: Four Kettering Health Network
hospitals ranked among the top 32 performing hospitals in a voluntary,
three-year project that included 157 nonprofit hospitals in 31 states.
Full story
Premier initiative looks to data, analytics to boost patient outcomes;
Healthcare IT News; 10/29/09: Premier healthcare alliance has
launched a new technology and consulting program to bridge the gap between
clinical and business processes in hospitals. The program is designed to
help hospitals and health systems improve quality and outcomes, control
costs and increase profitability.
Full story
Rewrite the HIPAA transactions?; Health Data Management;
10/29/09: The House healthcare reform bill would require the Food and
Drug Administration to implement a unique medical device identification
system, called UDI, within six months of enactment. Premier hailed the UDI
provision in a statement.
Full
story
Hospital program focuses on reduced costs, improved care; Savannah
(GA) Morning News; 10/28/09: Improving patient care, while
streamlining costs is a necessary but challenging chore for hospitals these
days. With that in mind, the two largest hospital systems in the
greater-Savannah area are taking part in QUEST, a voluntary project of
Premier Inc., a nationwide hospital collaborative. Just this month, Memorial
University Medical Center has been recognized for quality performance in
three areas.
Full story
St. Mary's recognized for top performance; The (Huntington, WV)
Herald-Dispatch; 10/28/09: St. Mary's Medical Center has been
recognized as a top performer in a new health care initiative called "QUEST:
High Performing Hospitals." QUEST was created by the Premier Inc. health
care alliance as a way to share data and best practices across the country
to improve patient outcomes. QUEST is a voluntary three-year project made up
of 157 hospitals across 31 states.
Full story
Quality initiative saved $577 million in first year, hospital group
announces; The Bureau of National Affairs; 10/26/09: Hospitals
participating in a nationwide quality collaboration have saved an estimated
total of 8,043 lives and $577 million in the first year of Premier's QUEST
initiative. The three-year program includes 166 not-for-profit hospitals
participating across 31 states.
Full story
About those Medicare rates...; Modern Healthcare; 10/26/09: Lawmakers are
looking to change the way Medicare pays doctors and hospitals before basing
Medicare rates on an entirely new government-run program. Congressional
Democrats last week announced that the House health reform bill – the
America's Affordable Health Choices Act – would contain new provisions to
study, then revise, the Medicare reimbursement system. Political motivations
are a major driver of these studies, some provider sources claim. A number
of the fiscally conservative Democrats who represent rural interests in the
House Blue Dog coalition "have been raising the issue that there's disparity
in payments in Medicare," and that a public option based on Medicare rates
would disadvantage rural communities, said Blair Childs, senior vice
president of public affairs at group purchasing and quality organization
Premier. "That’s what's driving all this."
Full story (subscription required)
Commentary: Charlotte's last hurrah, or just a hiccup?; The
Charlotte (NC) Observer; 10/25/09: So is this a last hurrah, or just
a hiccup? The answer is not preordained. It will hinge on the energy and
vision of individuals in this community. I believe our financial sector will
stabilize and eventually recover, if not again grow the way it has. At the
same time, we need to continue to diversify our economy beyond banking. With
our strong hospitals and the relocation of Premier Inc., healthcare is a
sector with notable potential.
Full story
Premier: Keep threshold in breach rule; Health Data Management;
10/23/09: Premier healthcare alliance is urging the Department of Health
and Human Services to retain the "harm threshold" in the healthcare
information breach notification rule. Under the rule, mandated by the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an organization that experiences a
breach of protected health information need not provide notification if it
determines there is no significant harm to affected individuals. Some
consumer organizations and members of Congress have called for notification
of all breaches.
Full
story
The holy grail of saving lives and saving money found to be
achievable – again!; Gerson Lehrman Group; 10/23/09: As the health
care reform march continues to drone on in D.C., we continue to hear
naysayers claim that saving money will result in losing lives. Once again,
in the results of the most recent study from the Premier health care
alliance's national collaborative, QUEST: High Performing Hospitals, the
Cassandras have been proven wrong.
Full story
Hospital collaborative finds sharing data saves costs, lives;
HealthLeaders Media; 10/23/09: Hospitals participating in the first
year of the Premier healthcare alliance's national collaborative, QUEST,
saved an estimate 8,043 lives and $577 million by focusing on areas to
improve healthcare. "This group of hospitals did agree to be transparent
with each other," said Susan DeVore, Premier's president and CEO, at a
Washington, DC conference unveiling the results.
Full story
Aurora hospitals rank high in national initiative; The Business
Journal of Milwaukee; 10/22/09: Five Aurora Health Care hospitals
have been named among the "top performers" in a national quality and safety
initiative. The initiative, QUEST: High Performing Hospitals, is intended to
act as a springboard for hospitals to reach new levels of performance and
public reporting while informing the public policy debate over the future of
health care.
Full story
Top-performing hospitals; (Fort Worth, TX) Star-Telegram;
10/21/09: Three Texas Health Resources hospitals in the Fort Worth area
have received top performance ratings in a national collaborative that’s
designed to improve care and reduce costs. Texas Health Harris Methodist
Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Texas Health Azle and Texas Health Cleburne were rated
among the top 25 percent of participating hospitals through the national
collaborative called QUEST: High Performing Hospitals, according to
Arlington-based Texas Health Resources.
Full
story (bottom of page)
Hospital quality and safety initiative saves $577M; Healthcare
Finance News; 10/21/09: Hospitals participating in the Premier
QUEST: High Performing Hospitals national collaborative have saved an
estimated 8,043 lives and $577 million in one year, according to an analysis
from Premier. "These remarkable results highlight what can be achieved when
hospitals assume the leadership needed to set high goals, focus on
continuous improvement and commit to action that yields positive outcomes
for patients," said Susan DeVore, Premier's president and CEO.
Full story
SSM-St. Louis hospitals improving patient care; SSM Health Care Web
site; 10/21/09: SSM DePaul Health Center, SSM St. Joseph Health
Center, and SSM St. Mary's Health Center have been named top performing
hospitals in the Premier healthcare alliance QUEST: High-Performing
Hospitals initiative.
Full story
Web-based infection control tool helps protect patients;
NurseZone.com; 10/21/09: In hospitals alone, health-care associated
infections (HAIs) account for an estimated 2 million infections, 90,000
deaths and $4.5 billion in excess health care costs annually. In an effort
to lower these statistics, SafetySurveillor™, a new Web-based solution from
Premier, Inc., provides electronic surveillance to infection control
professionals and clinical pharmacists.
Full story
Premier bringing jobs to Charlotte; (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer;
10/15/09: A healthcare consulting company plans to add 300 jobs in
Charlotte over the next five years, state officials announced Wednesday.
Premier Inc. already employs about 750 people in Charlotte out of its total
work force of 1,100. State officials promised the company up to $4,089,000
in incentives if it creates the new jobs and keeps all the existing ones.
Full story
Premier to add 300 jobs, move headquarters to Ballantyne; The Charlotte
(NC) Observer; 10/15/09: A global healthcare company says it is moving its
headquarters to Charlotte and adding 300 jobs over the next five years. It's
the latest bit of good news from a sector that has remained a bright spot in
a shaky economy. "It's cloudy, it's cold, it's raining – and it's a
beautiful day in Charlotte," Mayor Pat McCrory said. " ... Headquarters are
important to us, because they bring involvement and commitment to the
community."
Full storyy
Premier Inc. to move headquarters to Charlotte; News 14 Carolina;
10/15/09: Premier, a healthcare alliance company, announced it is moving
it headquarters to Charlotte, allowing for the creation of 300 more jobs.
This will help to expand its relationship with North Carolina hospitals and
better manage their costs.
Full story
Premier's corporate headquarters relocated in North Carolina; The
Medical News; 10/15/09: The Premier Inc. healthcare alliance today
announced that it has relocated its corporate headquarters to Charlotte,
N.C. In line with the relocation, Premier will add 300 jobs in the area over
the next five years. "North Carolina prides itself on being a state that
promotes innovation and originality," North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue
said. "Premier's pioneering approach to healthcare shows that we have
created a business climate in which innovative companies can prosper and
grow."
Full story
Premier Healthcare bringing 300 jobs to Charlotte; WCNC-TV
(Charlotte, NC); 10/15/09:: Premier, the nation's largest healthcare
alliance, is moving its corporate headquarters to Charlotte and adding 300
new jobs over the next five years.
Full story
Premier Inc. to move HQ to Charlotte; Charlotte Business Journal;
10/14/09: Premier Inc. is making Charlotte its corporate home, moving
its headquarters from San Diego and adding 300 jobs here over the next five
years. Premier, the largest health-care alliance in the country, currently
employs 750 in Charlotte.
Full story
Health care company to bring 300 jobs in Charlotte; AP/The
Washington Post; 10/14/09: Premier Inc., a health care purchasing
and data company, announced Wednesday it's moving its headquarters from
California to Charlotte while increasing its work in North Carolina's
largest city by 300 jobs.
Full story
Healthcare company to bring 300 jobs in Charlotte; WSOC-TV
(Charlotte, NC); 10/14/09:: A healthcare purchasing and data company
is moving its headquarters from California to North Carolina as it increases
its work force by 300 jobs. A state economic incentives panel approved an
agreement Wednesday with Premier Inc. The company could receive more than $4
million in grants if it creates the jobs over the next five years in
Charlotte and keeps them through 2018.
Full story
Demos show value in value-based purchasing; AHIP Web site;
10/13/09:: There is no substitute for putting your money where your mouth
is. In multi-hospital project demonstrations and individual medical centers,
performance-based incentives are working. Take Premier healthcare alliance,
for example. In conjunction with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS), the alliance has conducted a value-based purchasing
demonstration project on hospital quality incentives.
Full story
Cape Fear Valley recognized; The Fayetteville (NC) Observer;
10/12/09: Cape Fear Valley was recently named a top performer in the
clinical areas of heart failure and hip and knee surgeries by the Health
Quality Incentive Demonstration, a pay-for-performance project sponsored by
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Premier healthcare
alliance.
Full story
DeVore interviewed on Carolina Business Review; WTVI Charlotte;
10/9/09: Susan DeVore president and CEO of Premier healthcare alliance
appeared on the television show Carolina Business Review, discussing Premier
and its role in helping alliance members improve healthcare, quality and
affordability.
Full storyy
Medical supply costs stabilize; American Medical News; 10/9/09:
The prices of most medical and surgical supplies have not grown a lot over
the past year and are not expected to do so over the next. That is according
to a report issued Sept. 17 by Premier. "There's some inflation, but it is
the lowest I have seen in the last five or six years," said Mike Alkire,
president of Premier Purchasing Partners, the supply-chain service division
of the Charlotte, N.C.-based organization.
Full
story
Pharmacists vital to specialty-drug infusion centers; Drug Topics;
10/8/09: For specialty-drug infusion centers to be successful,
pharmacists must be part of the planning. That would seem to go without
saying, but according to Fred Pane, RPh, senior director of pharmacy affairs
at Premier Inc., an alliance of hospitals and health systems, it doesn't
always happen. Poor planning can result in compromised patient care, he
said.
Full story
Hospitals discover it isn't easy going 'green'; Healthcare Finance
News; 10/7/09: Little attention has been paid to emerging energy
risk factors such as procurement of energy and volatile prices in
deregulated markets, climate change and inevitable greenhouse gas
regulations, the approach of peak oil (where global demand outstrips supply)
and its impact on prices and availability. To raise awareness of these
issues, San Diego-based Premier has launched SPHERE – Securing Proven
Healthcare Energy Reduction for the Ecosystem.
Full story
Bakery on call for pizzas; Yale Daily News; 10/1/09: Since
Durfee's Sweet Shoppe began serving pizzas this semester, local bakery Lupi
Legna has been cashing in — one phone call at a time. Premier healthcare
alliance, a purchasing conglomerate which has negotiated contracts with
suppliers of the university's 23 dining and retail facilities since March,
currently oversees the choice and supply of a number of food offerings from
its range of over 20,000 products.
Full story
Premier gets more infection control clients; HealthData Management;
9/28/09: Monongalia Health System in Morgantown, W.Va., and Bon Secours
St. Francis Medical Center in Midlothian, Va., will implement the
SafetySurveillor application of Premier Inc., a San Diego-based provider
alliance and group purchasing organization.
Full
story
Monongalia Health System expands Premier healthcare alliance
affiliation to include Web-based infection tracking solution; Healthcare
Purchasing News; 9/25/09: Monongalia Health System of Morgantown,
WV, is expanding its relationship with the Premier healthcare alliance by
implementing Premier's SafetySurveillor Web-based infection tracking and
antimicrobial utilization solution.
Full
story
Can pay-for-performance work in health care? You bet.; BNET;
9/23/09: The doctors and nurses at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish
Health System always figured they did a great job caring for the 5 million
people living in their service area. But in 2003, the medical workers agreed
to take part in a first-of-a-kind ongoing study to test the
pay-for-performance model on a few core groups: those treating heart
patients, pneumonia cases, and people with hip or knee replacements. All
told, 275 hospitals are taking part in this national study, the Hospital
Quality Incentive Demonstration. The Premier health care alliance, which is
running the whole thing with CMS, analyzed data from 1.1 million patients
and estimated that this single pay-for-performance study had saved the lives
of 2,500 heart attack patients in its first three years.
Full story
RAC anxiety; Modern Healthcare; 9/21/09: Hospitals and
others in the healthcare industry are expressing trepidation over a
provision in the newly released Senate Finance Committee reform bill to
expand a controversial Medicare audit program. Todd Halpin, a principal with
Premier Consulting Solutions, a division of Premier, said it's not a
surprise that CMS would continue to propose expansions to include all plans
and services for which it has fiduciary responsibility under the Medicare
and Medicaid programs, "particularly based on the overpayments recovered as
part of the RAC demonstration project."
Full story (login required)
Premier healthcare alliance Continuum of Care division adds 9,500 new
members; Healthcare Finance News; 9/21/09: The Premier healthcare
alliance has 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.
Full story
Texas Health hospitals receive financial awards for quality;
Nurse.com; 9/21/09: The 12 Texas Health hospitals participating in
the Premier-CMS Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration pay-for-performance
project will receive 56 awards totaling $363,801. Each of the hospitals
attained or exceeded quality benchmarks in one or more areas of care
measured in the project.
Full story
Inflation rates for healthcare supplies to remain stable through 2010;
Healthcare Finance News; 9/17/09: Inflation rates for healthcare
supplies should remain unchanged through 2010, according to the Premier
healthcare alliance. Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners,
said his organization's research indicates the economic recession continues
to have a significant impact on hospital members.
Full story
University experts warn of H1N1's impact on businesses, healthcare
providers; Healthcare Finance News; 9/16/09: Public health
experts at Harvard and the University of Minnesota are warning that H1N1
will threaten most businesses in America as the flu spreads and more people
miss work. The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) is
hosting a H1N1 summit for healthcare leaders and Fortune 500 planners Sept.
22-23 in Minneapolis. "Hospitals and healthcare providers are already
experiencing the added strain of treating patients with H1N1 and properly
communicating to a cautious general public, challenges that will only
increase with the rising numbers of cases," said Gina Pugliese, vice
president of the Premier Safety Institute, which partnered with CIDRAP in
planning the summit.
Full story
National, primetime PBS special to feature Premier healthcare
alliance, member hospitals; PBS; 9/14/09: Premier's Susan DeVore,
along with alliance members Sinai Health System, Gaston Memorial Hospital
and Cleveland Regional Medical Center, will be featured on the national,
primetime PBS special,
Retirement
Revolution: The New Reality. An excerpt from DeVore's interview can be
found
here. Though the show premieres September 15, 2009, at 9 p.m., some PBS
stations will not air it until a later date. Please
click here to find your local PBS station's TV schedule.
Full story
Premier's supply chain program boosts bottom line; Healthcare IT
News; 9/13/09: Premier healthcare alliance officials say hospitals
and health systems participating in the alliance's Accelerated Supply Chain
Endeavor (ASCEND) program are seeing benefits to the bottom line. "ASCEND
participants are achieving supply chain savings that directly impact their
bottom lines," said Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire.
Full story
Hospitals to be told to make patients happy; The (UK) Times Online;
9/13/09: Hospitals that fail to keep their patients happy will lose
money under new plans to improve the NHS [in the U.K.]. Having acknowledged
that the health service is "good but not great," Andy Burnham, the health
secretary, wants hospital budgets to be linked with patient satisfaction.
This new emphasis on providing "quality" care is similar to that in America,
where private healthcare companies such as Premier Inc. offer rewards to
medical centers rated highly by their patients.
Full story
Industry reacts to Obama's speech; Modern Healthcare; 9/10/09:
Healthcare industry groups generally agreed with President Barack Obama that
the status quo on the current healthcare system was not sustainable, but
offered differing views on how the system should be fixed. Blair Childs,
senior vice president of public affairs with the Premier healthcare
alliance, said that the best way to bend the cost curve would be to
institute quality reforms such as hospital value-based purchasing and
voluntary accountable care organizations and encourage evidence-based
medicine, as well as increase the transparency of cost and quality
information. "Such policies are included in the Senate Finance Committee's
framework, and we look forward to working with Congress and the
administration to advance these reforms," Childs said.
Full story
Hospitals push P4P in health reform; Healthcare IT News;
9/8/09: More than 2,200 hospitals – members of the Premier healthcare
alliance – urged President Barack Obama last Friday to include pay for
performance as part of a health reform plan. Susan DeVore, president and
CEO, said Premier supports aligning payment with quality and increasing the
transparency in healthcare. "Premier strongly supports policies that link
payment to quality outcomes and urges you to include in healthcare reform a
well-designed Medicare hospital value-based purchasing program that will
reward quality and incentivize improved patient care," she wrote in a letter
sent last week to President Obama.
Full story
Government pays north Texas hospitals to perform; WTVT CBS 11
Dallas/Fort Worth; 9/1/09: The heated debate over healthcare reform
may find a compromise in a pilot "pay for performance" program that's been
quietly running for six years. Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Oak Cliff
is one of 250 hospitals nationwide, participating in the program that began
in 2003. Texas Health Resources has 12 hospitals currently taking part in
the pilot program.
Full
story
Extending their reach: U.S. supply-chain firms adding global
clientele; Modern Healthcare; 8/31/09: Clinical care isn't the
only segment of the U.S. healthcare industry going global these days. Like a
growing number of U.S. hospitals, American supply-chain businesses are also
reaching into international markets. They're inking agreements to provide a
variety of services, including analytics, consulting, contracting and
materials-management services to overseas hospitals and other
healthcare-related businesses. Recent deals include an agreement for the
quality-improvement and group purchasing organization Premier to consult
with Japan-based distributor Nihon Hospital Service Co. on development of
that country's first healthcare GPO, and another venture in which Premier is
implementing a pay-for-performance project among hospitals in the U.K.'s
government-funded National Health Service, or NHS.
Full story
Regional GPOs work to offer value, services that their national
counterparts often don't provide; Modern Healthcare; 8/31/09:
Recent efforts by organizations such as the Colorado Hospital Association,
Illinois Hospital Association and a group of providers in Kansas and
Missouri to establish new regional GPOs suggest a growing number of
healthcare providers are finding value in the nimbleness of smaller groups
that share more aligned purchasing and supply-chain goals. Mike Alkire,
president of Premier Purchasing Partners, says his GPO has dedicated staff
members who assist regional groups with administrative work and work on
spending analysis, among other services. Alkire says the partnership between
Premier and its 19 regional purchasing groups has to date brought an
additional $15 million in savings to members during fiscal 2009.
Full story (login required)
Pay for performance is gaining ground; Dallas Business Journal;
8/28/09: The so-called pay-for-performance model, also known as
value-based purchasing, is a system that seeks to slow spending by offering
financial incentives to hospitals, physicians and other providers that meet
certain performance measures for quality and efficiency. Now, all eyes are
turning to lessons learned from a pay-for-performance demonstration project
being conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a group
of about 250 hospitals nationwide. Among those participating locally are
Arlington-based Texas Health Resources and Dallas-based Methodist Health
System.
Full story (subscription required)
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen receive financial awards;
Allen (TX) American Star; 8/27/09: Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital Allen has received three performance awards as measured by a
national quality incentive project. Texas Health Allen and other Texas
Health hospitals across North Texas will receive financial awards from the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for performing well in the
fourth year of the national program.
Full story
Two rural hospitals say award doesn't matter in pay for performance
success; HealthLeaders Media; 8/26/09: It isn't every day that
rural hospital officials eagerly discuss their abysmal practice scores in
crucial care areas like heart failure or hip and knee surgery. But Cleveland
Regional Medical Center in Shelby, NC, and United Hospital Center in
Clarksburg, WV, now wear their low rankings almost like war medals. That's
because that poor performance is now history. Today, four years later, the
facilities have improved their care of patients so dramatically in four
important categories, they've become innovators for other hospitals
throughout the country.
Full story
Healthcare alliance offers tech help for Medicare audits;
Healthcare IT News; 8/25/09: The Premier healthcare alliance has
boosted its ClinicalAdvisor quality benchmarking and regulatory reporting
technology to include capabilities focused on Medicare's Recovery Audit
Contractor (RAC) program. "These enhancements to ClinicalAdvisor will help
hospitals properly prepare for RAC audits to receive appropriate
reimbursement while minimizing payment recoveries, both past and present,"
said Susan DeVore, Premier's president and CEO.
Full story
Good care pays off at 3 hospitals; The Charlotte (NC) Observer;
8/25/09: American medicine seems to be based on the notion that more
tests mean better health care. But a 4-year-old federal project is finding
success – including better outcomes and cost savings – with a different
strategy. Three Charlotte-area hospitals participating in the program
recently received cash awards for consistently meeting nationally recognized
standards of care when treating patients in three categories: heart disease,
pneumonia, and knee and hip replacement surgery. Gaston Memorial Hospital in
Gastonia, Stanly Regional Medical Center in Albemarle and Cleveland Regional
Medical Center in Shelby are among 250 hospitals in the
"pay-for-performance" project, sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services and Premier.
Full story
Demo derby - CMS quality initiatives find support...if pay's OK; Modern
Healthcare; 8/24/09: Hospitals and physicians say they’re in favor of the
growing number of CMS demonstrations to improve quality – they just want to
make sure they get reimbursed fairly if and when these demos are put into
practice. Last week, the agency reported glowing results of three of its
quality demonstration projects, one for large physician practices, one for
small and solo physician practices, and one for hospitals, with plans to
launch new demonstrations that focus specifically on gain-sharing between
doctors and hospitals.
Full story
Seven strategies to solve healthcare’s cost problem; HealthLeaders
Media; 8/21/09: Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO, and Lee
Perlman, CFO and senior vice president, administration, of the Greater New
York Hospital Association, and president of GNYHA Ventures Inc., explain how
"misaligned financial incentives discourage collaboration, efficiency, and
improved quality." Their analysis identifies seven specific savings
opportunities that could help strategic purchasing alliances reduce purchase
prices and improve efficiency in the supply chain.
Full story
Quality: It's about better healthcare; The New Health Dialogue Blog;
8/21/09: Tom Emswiler of The New Health Dialogue blog writes, "A test
program now in its fourth year has shown how health reform is about making
the system better and saving lives. And it can work. Hospitals that do a
great job get rewarded. Those with a poor performance, get penalized.
Premier, Inc., released the results of year four of their landmark Medicare
demonstration project this week. You might remember last year I blogged
about year three, one of the first instances of a pay-for-performance
initiative enforcing financial penalties on low-performing providers. I even
got a tiny mention on Modern Healthcare. Year four again brought good news
about higher quality."
Full story
Gaston Memorial achieves elite status in improving quality of care;
Gaston Gazette (Gastonia, NC); 8/21/09: Eleven years ago, as many as
98,000 Americans were dying each year because of medical mistakes, at an
estimated annual cost of $29 billion. That figure was based on a 1998 report
by the Institute of Medicine, and it alarmed people who had more faith in
the performance of health care professionals. But it also caught the
attention of industry leaders who realized something had to change. Out of
that surfaced a 2003 pilot program that offers cash rewards and national
recognition to hospitals for improving care in five clinical areas. And the
results of that pay-for-performance plan, released last week, show that
Gaston Memorial Hospital has been a top performer among 263 participating
hospitals in 36 states.
Full story
Presby Plano receives financial award for performance; Star Local
News (Plano, TX); 8/20/09: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano
received a financial award for quality performance measured by a national
quality incentive project. Texas Health Plano received $27,089, including
six performance awards from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in
the fourth year of the national program.
Full
story
DeVore discusses health reform on Charlotte public radio show; WFAE-FM;
8/18/09:: On Tuesday, August 18, Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO
appeared on National Public Radio member station WFAE in Charlotte with Dr.
Bill Brandon of UNC Charlotte and John Graham of the Pacific Research
Institute to discuss healthcare reform. The discussion was a fascinating
debate that touched on a range of issues that are flash points in the
current debate, including insurance reforms, strategies to control costs,
the passion of the August town hall meetings, deficit spending and payment
reforms.
Full broadcast
Positive outcomes from federal P4P demos build case for change;
Healthcare Finance News; 8/18/09: Federal pay-for-performance
demonstrations continue to back what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services is calling a strong case for changing the way hospitals and doctors
are paid under Medicare.
Full story
Medicare hands out $12M in hospital quality bonuses;
FierceHealthcare; 8/18/09: The 230 hospitals that took part in the
CMS/HQID value-based purchasing project raised their overall quality by an
average of 17.2 percent during the fourth year of the project on delivery of
30 selected quality measures. As a result of their strong performance, the
group will share $12 million in bonuses.
Full story
Solving the new-technology puzzle; The Journal of Healthcare
Contracting; 8/09 issue: If a new technology can, indeed, improve
patient care and reduce costs, shouldn't GPOs jump into the fray? At least
one GPO – Premier – feels it can, and should. But that's partly because
Premier doesn’t see itself as a traditional GPO. The Charlotte, N.C.-based
alliance kicked off its recent annual Breakthroughs Conference in Anaheim,
Calif., with what it called an "Innovation Celebration." Part trade show,
part expo, the evening event showcased 25 new products that could have a big
impact on healthcare. Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire
reportedly was thinking of auto shows when he came up with the idea. The
"Innovation Celebration" turned into a showcase not only for what's new, but
for what might be coming in future years. And rather than simply viewing new
products, clinicians also got a chance to offer manufacturers input on how
to improve them.
Full story
Duke hospitals scoop up rewards; The (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer;
8/18/09: Three Duke University-owned hospitals have received nearly
$250,000 in the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) project, a
pilot program that rewards hospitals for improving care in five clinical
specialties. The program is seen as one model for helping reform U.S.
healthcare by rewarding hospitals with cash and national recognition for
improving patient outcomes.
Full story
Frederick Memorial Healthcare System picks up eight national awards;
The Frederick (MD) News-Post; 8/18/09: Frederick Memorial
Healthcare System in Frederick, MD, earned eight national awards for quality
care and a reward of $141,340. The hospital has been part of a Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, Premier healthcare alliance
pay-for-performance project that rewards hospitals for delivering high
quality care in five clinical areas.
Full story
Winter Haven Hospital gets reward for good performance; The
(Lakeland, FL) Ledger; 8/17/09: Winter Haven Hospital in Winter
Haven, FL, is receiving a $29,657 bonus from the federal government for
performing well in 2006-07, hospital officials announced Monday. The
hospital's quality measurements were in the top half of about 250
participating hospitals for treating Medicare patients who had heart
failure, pneumonia, bypass surgery or hip-knee orthopedic surgery.
Full story
Texas Health Resources, Methodist Health System win cash awards for
quality service; The Dallas Morning News; 8/17/09: The federal
government will award $430,000 to two North Texas hospital systems today for
delivering high-quality medical care. Arlington-based Texas Health Resources
won $364,000 and Dallas-based Methodist Health System won $66,000 in a
program designed to test a theory that paying hospitals for quality instead
of the quantity of services improves healthcare and ultimately reduces
costs.
Full story
Rush rewarded by CMS for high quality healthcare; The Meridian Star;
8/17/09: Rush Foundation Hospital has been named a top performer in a
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Premier healthcare alliance
value-based purchasing (VBP) project that rewards hospitals for delivering
high quality care in five clinical areas.
Full
story
Medicare test pays for hospital performance; The Wall Street
Journal; 8/17/09: A pilot project by Medicare that links hospital
payments to the quality of care has helped prevent infections in pneumonia
patients and cut death rates in heart-attack patients, according to data
released. Some lawmakers see the experiment, which began in 2003, as a model
as they debate ways to overhaul the nation's healthcare system. In the four
years ended Sept. 30, 2007, the hospitals saw about 4,700 fewer deaths among
heart-attack patients than if they hadn't been participating in the program,
said Premier Inc., the healthcare alliance that is Medicare's partner on the
project. That was among more than 30 quality measures in which hospitals
scored higher, Premier said. The lesson is that "financial incentives can
increase quality of care," said Tim Love, director of the research office at
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that
manages Medicare.
Full story
Premier Inc.'s DeVore at the center of the healthcare debate;
Charlotte (NC) Business Journal; 8/14/09: Susan DeVore, Premier's
CEO, is in the thick of the national debate over healthcare reform. The
goals of healthcare reform match Premier’s mission, DeVore says. As the
process moves forward, access to care remains key, as does a focus on
improving its quality, safety and affordability. DeVore envisions a system
in which doctors and others will be rewarded based on the quality of care
they provide, not on the number of patients they see or the number and
complexity of the procedures they offer.
Full story (subscription required)
Cash incentives help improve hospital quality; HealthLeaders Media;
8/10/09: In the case of 260 hospitals that are part of CMS and Premier
Inc.'s value based purchasing project, having financial and other incentives
to improve quality is making a difference in five clinical areas, according
to recent analysis of the project. Known as the Hospital Quality Incentive
Demonstration P4P Project, the analysis found that while all hospitals
improved clinical quality while reducing care variation, it took safety net
hospitals until year three to perform as well as non-safety net hospitals in
the areas of heart attack, heart failure, and hip/knee replacement. However,
after year three, safety nets, too, began receiving top performance awards.
Full story
Safety net hospitals improved quality with pay-for-performance
incentives; HealthLeaders Media; 8/10/09: On quality measures,
hospitals treating larger numbers of the poor did not perform as well as
hospitals serving more affluent populations back in 2003. But by 2006 that
changed. When offered a financial incentive from the federal government's
three-year pay-for-performance incentive demonstration project, mortality
rates went down and many quality measures improved closer to the level of
their counterpart hospitals treating more wealthy patients. The poorer
hospitals were able to narrow the gap. That's the latest news from the third
year of the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) project,
which has tracked performance and outcome statistics for 250 hospitals in 36
states on 30 quality measures.
Full story
Study: Safety net hospitals improve care in P4P demo project;
FierceHealthcare; 8/10/09: While electronic medical records made the
job easier, even safety net hospitals with less information technology tools
in place managed to improve patient care through pay for performance
incentives, according to the results of a P4P demonstration project run by
the Premier healthcare alliance.
Full story
P4P helps safety net hospitals boost care in just three years;
Healthcare IT News; 8/7/09: New analysis shows that safety net
hospitals have improved patient care through a nationwide
pay-for-performance demonstration project, even without the help of
information technology. Blair Childs, Premier's senior vice president of
public affairs, said the study included 250 hospitals of all types. The
intent was to gauge whether certain types of hospitals performed
differently. "Through our work in the Hospital Quality Incentive
Demonstration project, we have learned the critical components of an
effective value-based purchasing (VBP) program," said Premier president and
CEO Susan DeVore. "We believe that, properly structured, VBP is a powerful
engine for performance improvement that will enhance quality, reduce
variation and avoid unnecessary costs."
Full story
The effects of IPPS changes; For the Record; 8/5/09: In
this article, Premier's Blair Childs, senior vice president of public
affairs, notes the key issues surrounding the CMS proposed changes to the
hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for acute care
hospitals. Included are MS-DRG documentation and coding adjustment, capital
payments, and quality measures reporting in addition to others that the
2,200 hospital members of the Premier healthcare alliance believe will have
a significant impact on nonprofit hospitals.
Full
story
Starting from scratch: Heroes, failures and hope; Hospitals &
Health Networks; 8/3/09: Emily Friedman, an independent writer,
speaker and health policy and ethics analyst, in writing about her
experiences in Cambodia notes that after years of war, the nation is
struggling to recreate a healthcare system. Its experiences offer pointers
for those trying to reform healthcare in the United States. Friedman
describes how Cambodians living in the U.S. are now benefiting from
creative, culturally sensitive healthcare programs. She cites the Metta
Health Center, established in Lowell, Mass., as one example which serves the
large Cambodian and Laotian populations in that city in order to provide
culturally appropriate services. In 2006, the center was a finalist for the
prestigious Premier Cares Award and won a $28,000 grant from Premier Inc.
Full story
Supply chain partner; On-Campus Hospitality Magazine; 8/09
issue: Purchasing managers must move focus from solely competitive
sourcing to finding new, sustainable, exceptional quality products in a
cost-effective way. To do that, partnerships are key. In addition to reduced
pricing and negotiating agreements, Joan Ralph, Premier's vice president of
continuum of care services said Premier offers other added-value programs.
"We are working with U.S. Foodservice, which is our distribution partner, in
developing a value statement that shows colleges and universities where they
have the opportunity to drive additional savings based on their purchasing
selections, so it helps them make informed decisions in terms of how to
maximize their savings potential with items under contract."
Full story
(.pdf)
Healthcare Finance News interviews Susan DeVore; Healthcare Finance
News; 7/30/09: Healthcare Finance News recently spoke with Susan
DeVore, Premier president and CEO, to discuss her plans for the
organization, the difference in challenges faced by smaller versus larger
facilities, and her opinion on legislative changes that would improve the
way healthcare is delivered in the nation.
Full story
Who will be the winners and losers in health reform?; HealthLeaders
Media; 7/27/09: Though it looks like the Senate won't vote on health
reform legislation before the August recess, a glance into a crystal ball
reveals some clues as to what sectors of the industry will see the greatest
impact, both positive and negative. Blair Childs, senior vice president for
Premier, offered his insights for a recent HealthLeaders Media list. In the
center of the reform conversation, Premier maintains the nation's most
comprehensive repository of clinical, financial, and outcomes information
and operates a healthcare purchasing network.
Full story
One-on-one with Blair Childs: Developments in healthcare legislation;
Healthcare Informatics; 7/09 issue: Healthcare Informatics sat
down with Blair Childs, Premier senior vice president of Public Affairs, to
discuss the latest in federal healthcare legislation developments: public
health insurance, value-based purchasing, quality and safety provisions, and
the implications on healthcare IT.
Full story
Eco-nomics; Healthcare Informatics; 7/09 issue: Prior to
the economic downturn, the movement for environmentally friendly or "green"
practices had begun carving out a small but noteworthy niche in the
healthcare IT industry. But when the recession hit, and health systems
across the country suddenly had to deal with capital freezes and layoffs,
green initiatives were forced to take a backseat. Some organizations,
however, have been able to forge ahead with eco-friendly plans by tying them
to financial gains. What these leaders have discovered is that green
initiatives – if done right – can lead to more greenbacks. Take, for
example, Ingalls which last fall purchased a three-year electric power
contract through a Web-based reverse auction program that included 5 percent
green electricity (from renewable resources). Offered through
Premier's SPHERE program in
partnership with Practice Greenhealth, an Arlington, Va.-based organization
devoted to environmentally responsible healthcare, the auction featured a
virtual marketplace in which suppliers bid downward to compete for contracts
with hospitals and other businesses.
Full story
Challenging China: Supply chain could be affected by raw materials
dispute; Modern Healthcare; 6/29/09: A global trade dispute over
raw materials could affect the cost of producing surgical instruments,
hospital beds, operating room tables and other healthcare equipment and
supplies. Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners, said that
such restrictions have over the years prompted medical products companies to
concentrate manufacturing in China in order to access cheaper prices.
"Because we are so dependent on China, we have huge risks," Alkire said.
"One of the concepts I've been pushing is spreading out the manufacturing of
goods to near shore areas like Central America and South America," Alkire
said. The U.S. trade representative's dispute resolution efforts could help
facilitate such activity, he said.
Full story
Premier comments on meaningful use; Health Data Management;
6/29/09: Compliance targets for meaningful use of electronic health
records in 2011 "should be set at appropriate levels in light of the current
absence of a functioning electronic health information exchange in most
communities, and the time typically necessary to implement an HIE," provider
alliance Premier Inc. advises in a comment letter to federal officials.
Full story
Premier: Go slow on quality measures test; Health Data Management;
6/26/09: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in its proposed
rule to make changes to inpatient prospective patient systems for acute care
hospitals in 2010, calls for testing the submission of quality measures
derived from electronic health records. That's a good idea, according to
Premier Inc., but the San Diego-based provider alliance has some concerns.
Full story
A roundtable discussion: Experts delve into imaging service,
technology management issues; Imaging Horizons; 2009 issue:
Several experts in medical technology recently participated in a roundtable
conference call to discuss a variety of issues in imaging service. The
discussion was moderated by Carol Davis-Smith of Premier Consulting
Solutions.
Full story
(.pdf), reprinted with permission from the Association for the
Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI),
www.aami.org
Healthcare alliance streamlines supply chain management; Healthcare
Finance News; 6/24/09: This article discusses how healthcare
executives and administrators are striving to remove inefficiencies across
all of their operations in the face of reduced staff during the recession.
"We always look to operate our business as lean as we can," says Premier's
John Biggers, group vice president of Sourcing. Using BravoSolution's
Web-based tool to automate contracting processes involving approximately 100
users across two offices, Premier staff is doing more with less. "The gain
in the tool is improving productivity," Biggers said.
Full story
Dealing with personnel issues; Modern Healthcare; 6/22/09:
In 2007, Geisinger Heath System partnered with one of its payers, sister
company Geisinger Health Plan, to launch a quality improvement initiative
called Personal Health Navigator. The program, which assigns patients
medical homes with the sickest 20% also receiving nurse case managers to
coordinate their care, was employed to test whether a different model of
care could improve the health system's productivity. Geisinger isn't the
only healthcare organization questioning old productivity formulas and
testing new ways of measuring how efficiently it accomplishes goals. Other
providers and payers are also putting more emphasis on tethering healthcare
outcomes and costs to one another when determining whether their
organizations are adequately productive. "When we talk about productivity
and whether you get the work done, we're asking, 'Are you meeting needs and
being high-functioning even while you're addressing financial issues?'" said
Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier Consulting Solutions, a
division of the group purchasing and healthcare quality-improvement
organization Premier.
Full story (subscription required)
Premier leader honored for contributions to medical technology;
AAMI News; 6/09 issue: Carol Davis-Smith, director with Premier Consulting Solutions and chair of the Association for the Advancement of Medical
Instrumentation's (AAMI) Technology Management Council, has been awarded the 2009 AAMI Clinical/Biomedical Engineering Achievement Award. "In her 21 years as a clinical engineer, [Davis-Smith] has demonstrated a keen understanding of what it means to be a clinical engineer, and has given back to the field by educating and promoting the profession and its ideals to both the biomedical and clinical communities," said Bridget Moorman, president of BMoorman Consulting.
Full story
Premier picks 23 top performing hospitals; Healthcare IT News;
6/18/09: The Premier healthcare alliance has singled out 23 hospitals as
the top in the country for their commitment to high-quality patient care and
operational efficiency. Several of the criteria Premier used to gauge
performance have information technology underpinnings. Premier chose the
hospitals from more than 3,796 eligible hospitals nationwide, at Premier’s
annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, Calif.
Full story
Buy-in power; Repertoire; 6/09 issue: Purchasing coalitions
mean good business, and in today's economy, smart business choices can make
or break providers. As more small hospitals struggle to maintain their
financial independence and avoid staff cutbacks, regional purchasing
coalitions, or aggregation groups or alliances as some prefer to call them,
continue to provide a viable means of effectively managing hospital costs,
according to experts. So, hospital financial officers and contracting
executives continue to buy into them, and group-purchasing executives
continue to support them. Premier (Charlotte, N.C.) has watched its
purchasing coalitions take off in recent years. "Over the last five years,
the number of Premier-affiliated regional aggregation groups has more than
doubled," says Mike Alkire, president, Premier Purchasing Partners.
Full story
Rapid tests catch on fast; Repertoire; 6/09 issue: Taking
their cue from physician practices, hospital-based physicians, lab directors
and clinicians are increasingly recognizing the value of point-of-care
testing in hospital settings. Although patient population and cost continue
to influence which hospitals are likely to purchase which tests, overall
acceptance appears to be on the upswing. The increasing accuracy of rapid
tests has also helped to drive the hospital market, according to Barbara M.
Maillet, senior director, laboratory services, Premier (Charlotte, N.C.).
Full story
Premier buys management firm Phase 2 Consulting; Modern Healthcare;
6/2/09: Premier, Charlotte, N.C., has acquired healthcare management
firm Phase 2 Consulting, formerly a division of publicly traded RehabCare
Group, St. Louis. Details of the transaction will not be disclosed, Premier
spokesman Alven Weil said.
Full story (login required)
With specialty-drug infusion centers, attention to the bottom line is
vital; Drug Topics; 6/1/09: With the specialty-drug pipeline
brimming with hundreds of potential new infusion therapies, hospitals need
to find new ways to ensure patient access to these medications. One way is
through an outpatient specialty-drug infusion center. Before hospitals break
ground for such a center, they must plan to avoid financial repercussions,
said Fred Pane, RPh, senior director of pharmacy affairs at Premier Inc., an
alliance of hospitals and health systems.
Full story
Purchasers beware: Better oversight of foreign pharma plants just the
first step; Modern Healthcare; 6/1/09: In this article, Mike
Alkire, Premier Purchasing Partners president, explains the importance of
improved government oversight and law enforcement plus tougher penalties for
counterfeits found within the supply chain, from chemicals to finished
products, particularly those manufactured in China and India. The World
Health Organization says up to 10 percent of the world's medicines are
fakes; in China and India, that's true for up to a third of medicines sold.
Even so, U.S. drug companies purchase 40 percent of their active
pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, from the counterfeiting hotbeds of India
and China – with some estimating this may reach 80 percent within 15 years.
"We have a moral imperative to ensure safety and punish those who would put
lives in jeopardy. We all have a role to play and a responsibility to get it
right. Anything short of that is unacceptable," writes Alkire.
Full story (subscription required)
Economic collapse spurs creative thinking; Hospitals & Health
Networks; 5/09 issue: As the recession lingers and hospital bottom
lines take a beating, executives are getting more aggressive about
controlling costs. That means shining a brighter light on supplies, which is
actually creating opportunities to improve operations. Steep drops in
interest income – combined with the credit crunch – have greatly impaired
hospitals' abilities to spend, says Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing
Partners, Charlotte, N.C. Where some institutions were seeing interest
income of roughly $4 million per year, today it's more like $2.4 million.
"If your interest income is 60 percent of what it used to be, that has to
have an impact on your bottom line," he says.
Full story
CMS: 'Value' proposition puts onus on hospitals; Healthcare Finance
News; 5/27/09: This article discusses the Value-Based Purchasing
initiative aimed at hospitals, as CMS aggressively aims to curtail
expenditures wherever it can. It is part of a larger CMS reimbursement
reduction movement that also includes the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC)
program, Medicare-Severity DRGs (MS-DRGs) and pay-for-performance (P4P).
Premier helped lay the groundwork for Value-Based Purchasing and its
companion initiatives through a project called HQID – Hospital Quality
Incentive Demonstration, the largest CMS demonstration project to date.
Full story
Premier's Susan DeVore recognized as one of North Carolina's most
influential and dynamic leaders; Business Leader;
5/20/09: Susan DeVore has been named to Business Leader magazine's annual list of "Power Players," North Carolina's most influential and dynamic leaders. According to the magazine, the Power Players
"are among the individuals who have taken up the challenge of leading North Carolina out of this recession" and have made "unique and vital contributions to our state and its economic recovery."
Full story
Hospital advocates address delivery system reform; Healthcare Finance News;
5/18/09: The American Hospital Association and the Premier healthcare alliance have submitted separate comments to the
Senate Finance Committee on its proposed options for reforming the healthcare delivery system. Premier endorsed VBP as "a tool that should be applied not only to existing Medicare payment models but also to the longer-term approaches such as bundled payments and the creation of Accountable Care Organizations."
However, the organization said the VBP program should promote quality improvement through incentive payments, rather than guarantee savings.
Full story
Yale obstetrics safety plan cuts adverse events by 40 percent; American Medical News;
5/18/09: Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut cut adverse obstetrics outcomes by about 40 percent after implementing a comprehensive
patient safety program. Included in the Yale-New Haven strategy is
participation in the Premier Perinatal Safety Initiative and creation of
an obstetrics safety nurse position. While the initiative's results will
not be released until next spring, Kathy Connolly, principal of women's
services with Premier Consulting Solutions, said the early results are
encouraging enough that Premier will start accepting more hospitals in
the project in September.
Full story
One state's big goal: No HAIs; Hospitals & Health Networks;
5/09 issue: This article by Premier's Susan DeVore and Chuck Beaman from
Palmetto Health discusses the state of South Carolina's efforts to eliminate
preventable infections via the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust. Say
Beaman and DeVore, "The time has come for revolutionary new approaches to
tackling this very real public health issue, and the South Carolina
Healthcare Quality Trust will certainly serve as a national standard for
others to follow. Eliminating all preventable HAIs is an aggressive charge,
but nothing less is acceptable. Our patients are counting on us."
Full story (.pdf)
Premier CIO conducting data synchrony; Healthcare Purchasing News;
5/09 issue: This article describes Premier's efforts as it works with 25 high-ranking hospital supply chain executives of
its Strategic Advisory Committee, to formally request that contracted suppliers adopt GS1 data standards and processes to
"improve patient safety, reduce avoidable supply chain costs and advance collaborative supply chain performance initiatives."
Premier's Joe Pleasant Jr., senior vice president and CIO, discussed with Healthcare Purchasing News
the
muscle behind data synchronization standards adoption.
Full story
Waiting for reform; Modern Healthcare;
5/11/09: Lawmakers will likely wait to see what the long-anticipated healthcare-reform legislation package will
include before moving on several high-profile bills that, if passed, would significantly affect how medical
device and drug companies develop, market and manufacture their products, healthcare policy experts say.
Blair Childs, Premier senior
vice president of public affairs, explained that lawmakers also are trying to take a global look at proposed healthcare legislation
to see how all the parts fit together. "A lot of ideas in individual bills are being woven into the broader package so they can
consider if you move one dial what would it do to other knobs on the dashboard," said Childs.
Full story
(subscription required)
The hospital gown, fashion malady, worries would-be redesigners sick;
The Wall Street Journal; 5/11/09: The traditional American hospital
gown – flimsy in front, open to the breeze in the back – has been around about
as long as the Band-Aid. If anything, it has changed less. Patient gowns are
now a $76 million market, according to Premier Inc. Michael Georgulis, a
vice president at Premier Inc., thinks the traditional gown has suffered a
bum rap. In addition to being inexpensive, its easy-access design "works
well" in emergencies, he says. "Given all the challenges facing hospitals
and health care," aren't there more pressing problems worth tackling? he
asks.
Full story
WHO initiates worldwide campaign to promote hand hygiene;
HealthLeaders Media; 5/6/09: The World Health Organization's (WHO)
Alliance for Patient Safety Tuesday officially kicked off its "Save Lives:
Clean Your Hands" initiative to encourage hospitals and healthcare
facilities worldwide to raise awareness of hand hygiene to reduce often
preventable healthcare-associated infections. The Premier healthcare
alliance has been promoting the WHO initiative to hospitals participating in
its QUEST performance and quality improvement collaborative.
Full story
Change has finally come: U.S. healthcare industry to implement common
data standards to improve safety, reduce costs; GS1 Healthcare Reference Book;
5/09: An article (pages 6-9) by Premier CIO Joe Pleasant discusses the healthcare industry's strides toward a consistent set of supply chain data standards and a system to
synchronize product information to enhance patient safety and reduce costs. Says Pleasant, "The question has evolved from 'if' to 'when'
the industry will reap the benefits of adopting and implementing consistent supply chain data standards, and that time has come."
Full story
(.pdf)
GPOs: Savings beyond product discounts; Healthcare Finance News;
5/5/09: GPOs are a practical solution to counter the ever mounting cost
of healthcare. That's the conclusion from a
new report by Dr.
Eugene Schneller, professor, Arizona State University and principal,
Health Care Sector Advances, Inc. But savings are more than just discounts.
GPOs have expanded offerings to provide value-added services, including
collaboratives – such as the
Premier Perinatal Safety Initiative – that bring hospitals together to
share best practices and improve outcomes.
Full story
Richard Norling honored at Partners in Care Foundation's Vision &
Excellence in Healthcare Leadership tribute dinner; Partners in Care Foundation Web site;
5/4/09: In recognition of his outstanding leadership in changing the shape of healthcare, Richard A. Norling,
president and CEO of Premier Inc.,
has been named the recipient of Partners in Care Foundation's 2009 Mathies Award. This award recognizes and honors an inspired
healthcare leader who has had an important impact on changing the shape of healthcare.
Full story
Premier joins WHO hand hygiene initiative; WHO Web site;
5/4/09: Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) launches an important global hand hygiene initiative,
SAVE LIVES:
Clean Your Hands. Premier and many of our members have joined this initiative. Overall, more than 4,500 healthcare
facilities globally are supporting this new initiative to highlight and promote hand hygiene – the correct
techniques and how to inform and educate healthcare staff, as well as patients and the general public.
Full story
CMS proposes historically low inpatient payment increases;
HealthLeaders Media; 5/1/09: CMS late Friday afternoon announced
historically low net increases of well below 1% in its 2010 payment rates
for Medicare inpatient services by both acute-care and long-term care
hospitals, and signaled that even larger reductions may be coming in the
next two years. Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs at
Premier health alliance, says he is "extremely disappointed" by CMS's net
payment cut of 0.5%, on average" and noted that hospital payments are
already 7% below costs.
Full story
Infusion centers for specialty drugs: Hospitals step up; Modern Medicine;
5/1/09: Rising costs and falling reimbursements are causing many physicians to move out of the specialty-drug infusion
business and ask hospitals to take on the job. Premier's Fred Pane, RPh, senior director of pharmacy affairs, advises
hospital pharmacists to keep in touch with physicians who might drop their infusion service in order to avoid unexpected
increases in patient volume.
Full story
Using data to change processes; Health Data Management; 5/1/09:
Data mining can be the foundation for meaningful changes in the practice of
medicine. Inova Health System has evidence that proves this is far more than
just a hypothesis. Inova is using Web-based data mining software called
Quality Manager from Premier Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based purchasing
alliance. It's a participant in Premier's QUEST, a quality improvement
benchmarking project. The alliance recently announced that it will expand
the project beyond the original 166 hospitals.
Full story
Flu has sole U.S. surgical mask producer scrambling; CNN;
4/30/09: Health care suppliers say if the swine flu outbreak
becomes a pandemic, it could severely strain hospitals' efforts to get
necessary equipment like masks, gloves and antibiotics. "What this situation
should teach us is that we need to take a critical look at where we source
pandemic supplies and in what quantities," said Mike Alkire, president of
Purchasing Partners for Premier Inc., a North Carolina-based healthcare
improvement alliance with a division that negotiates supply contracts for
its more than 2,100 member hospitals.
Full story
Charlotte and swine flu; WCCB-TV; 4/30/09: Fear of catching
the swine flu is leading people to take precautions in the Charlotte area
and across the U.S. Registered nurse Leslie Schultz with the Premier Inc.
healthcare alliance says if you think you are infected with the swine flu,
or you are taking care of someone who is possibly infected, it’s a good idea
to wear a surgical mask. But, she says, for most people the best defense is
a lot of hand washing.
Full story
Pandemic expert with latest on swine flu; WGN TV; 4/27/09:
Gina Pugliese, vice president, Premier Safety Institute, speaks with WGN
News in Chicago to discuss the latest on swine flu: why experts are
concerned and watching this flu virus so carefully, the importance of
vaccination and tips on how you can protect yourself. View the video and
explore the resources available from the Safety Institute.
Full story
Premier, members featured in book on transforming quality; Google;
4/24/09: Premier's Richard Bankowitz, along with alliance members
Hackensack University Medical Center, Alegent Health System, Fairview
Northland Medical Center and Geisinger Health System, are featured in the
recently released book, "Transformative Quality: The Emerging Revolution in
Health Care Performance." Premier and these members are referenced on a
number of occasions, specific to the HQID project. A preview of the book is
available online.
Full story
Purchasing points: Leveraging GPO relationships; Advance for
Administrators of the Laboratory; 4/24/09: "In today's trying
economic times, hospitals are searching for ways to reduce costs, improve
value and maintain the quality of services provided. Considering what
hospitals spend each year on medical equipment and supplies, this is a
critical area of focus and an expense that can be dramatically reduced to
preserve financial viability without compromising patient care," write
Helene Gulczynski, laboratory specialist and Barbara M. Maillet, senior
director of Laboratory Services at Premier.
Full story
FTC unveils EHR security rule; HealthLeaders Media; 4/17/09:
The FTC's proposed interim rule governing security for electronic health
records expands responsibility for maintaining patient confidentiality to
include third-party vendors, enhances patient notifications for breaches,
and sends a clear signal that the federal government will crack down on
violators. "It's a tremendous scare," says Tom Green, senior director of
sales and marketing for Premier Insurance Management Services Inc., a
subsidiary of Premier Inc. "If patient health information is not properly
safeguarded or encrypted or they don't have the necessary policies and
procedures in place to ensure safe-keeping, you are opening yourself up to
significant civil fines and penalties in addition to some potential
lawsuits, not to mention the public relations issues you could be facing."
Full story
When does use become "meaningful?"; Healthcare Informatics;
4/17/09: Dr. Richard Bankowitz, vice president and medical director,
Premier Healthcare Informatics, discusses the $17 billion that the nation
will spend to encourage the adoption and use of the electronic health
records (EHR). "The legislation stipulates that in order to qualify for the
incentive payments, hospitals and physicians must use an EHR that has been
"certified" and the use must be "meaningful" – two words that are likely to
cause a lot of discussion in the near future." Read Dr. Bankowitz's
definition through his blog entry on the Healthcare Informatics Web site.
Full story
Cover story: The ultimate QUEST; The Journal of Healthcare
Contracting; 3/09-4/09 issue: This series of articles focuses on
Premier's QUEST™: High Performing Hospitals project and the QUEST
Comparative Innovation Program. It features interviews with Premier's Susan
DeVore, Mike Alkire, Richard Bankowitz and Andy Brailo, as well as alliance
members Aurora Health Care, Gaston Memorial Hospital and Kettering Health
Network. "I believe (QUEST) is the model for healthcare improvement," says
DeVore. According to Alkire, "The collaborative nature of QUEST allows
participants to identify the high performers and learn from them." Says Jan
Mathews from Gaston, "All of the hospitals participating in QUEST are
sharing data. We are helping each other and looking at patient care across
the nation."
Full story (.pdf)
One-on-one with Susan DeVore, Premier's incoming president and CEO;
Healthcare Informatics; 4/17/09: Healthcare Informatics talks with
Susan DeVore, Premier's incoming president and CEO, about how competing
hospitals in South Carolina are working together to eliminate
healthcare-associated infections and lower costs. "This does seem to be a
first-time-ever cooperative, with private hospitals, a government arm, and a
private organization like Premier involved. And we really think it's through
these public/private partnerships working together to make it happen, that
will help healthcare reform and transformation really take place," says
DeVore.
Full story
Grant helps two S.D. health systems continue partnership; The
(Mitchell, SD) Daily Republic; 4/16/09: A federal grant will help
two large South Dakota health systems continue a collaboration that produced
savings of $5 million in its first year. The network was created about one
year ago by Avera Health and Regional Health – two vast health systems
headquartered in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, respectively – in partnership
with the Premier healthcare alliance. The purpose of the network is to join
the two health systems' many facilities together into one powerful buying
pool.
Full story
Web-based infection control tool helps protect patients; NurseZone.com;
4/09 issue: In hospitals alone, health-care associated infections
account for an estimated 2 million infections, 90,000 deaths and $4.5
billion in excess health care costs annually. In an effort to lower these
statistics, SafetySurveillor™, a new Web-based solution from Premier, Inc.,
provides electronic surveillance to infection control professionals and
clinical pharmacists.
Full story
Group of House Democrats is pushing reform bill with public insurance
plan; AHA News Now; 4/13/09: A majority of the 77-member
Congressional Progress Caucus – a group of liberal House Democrats – has
threatened to vote against health reform legislation that does not create a
public health insurance plan to compete with private health insurers. But
expanding coverage alone won’t improve the nation's health care system,
hospital executives testified at an April 1 House Ways and Means Committee
hearing. They also expressed support for reforms that reward health care
quality and promote better care coordination. Lawrence Smith, M.D., chief
medical officer at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great
Neck, NY, said quality incentives "can and do improve patient outcomes
across a wide variety of measures and payers," as evidenced by his health
system's participation in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration.
Full story
Common good in the Commonwealth; Repertoire; 4/09 issue:
Madisonville, a town of about 20,000 in western Kentucky, lacked power for a
week after an ice storm, which struck Jan. 26 and Jan. 27. Even two weeks
after the storm, a quarter of the homes and businesses in Madisonville were
still awaiting resumption of power. Given that, it’s no surprise that Trover
Health System became a magnet for the stranded and the sick. Soon after the
storm hit, The IDN's materials management director, Tim Ingram was on the
phone with Premier's emergency response team, who acted as a communications
conduit throughout the ordeal. Premier also helped source a variety of
things, including fuel, generators and batteries.
Full story
Hospital supply chain staff face challenges in unstable economy;
Healthcare Finance News; 4/2/09: Some manufacturers selling products
to hospitals are projecting price decreases in the next six months, while
others suggest increases of up to 20 percent, according to a new analysis by
the Premier healthcare alliance. Earlier this week, Premier released its
Economic Outlook and Inflation Estimates analysis through August 2009. The
report suggests that current economic conditions are making the financial
decisions of not-for-profit hospitals more difficult than ever before.
Full story
In the hospital, facing a scourge of killer clots; The Wall Street
Journal; 4/1/09: Helping to pressure hospitals to do a better job to
prevent blood clots is a threat of reduced payments from Medicare, which
last year began withholding payments for certain preventable occurrences.
Recently added to Medicare's list of "never events" that aren't reimbursed
are DVT and pulmonary embolisms following knee or hip surgery. Hospital
alliance Premier Inc. is working with about 250 hospitals on better
compliance with DVT-prevention measures in a project co-sponsored by
Medicare.
Full story
How green was my hospital; Health Data Management; 4/1/09:
When it comes to environmentalism in health care, hospitals have many venues
through which they can become more responsible corporate citizens.
Electronics recycling is one. Eliminating paper records is another with
direct ramifications for I.T. Beyond that, some hospitals are looking at
building design and even food consumption as part of their greening effort.
It's about time, some say. "Health care disproportionately impacts climate
change," asserts Gina Pugliese, vice president of the Safety Institute run
by Premier Inc., a San Diego-based hospital alliance and group purchasing
organization. Pugliese heads an effort called SPHERE, short for "Securing
Proven Healthcare Energy Reduction for the Ecosystem."
Full story
Crafting a supply chain standards stimulus package; Healthcare
Purchasing News; 4/09 issue: Advocates and observers have promoted
the estimable benefits of standards for tracking medical devices for years.
But current efforts to accelerate adoption and implementation of standards,
let alone IT, have yet to generate the necessary traction. So how do you
convince at least 50.1 percent of healthcare facilities in operation today
to start using standards, such as GS1’s, fully by 2013? "Peer pressure is a
strong motivator, especially when one’s peers are seeing successes," said
Joe Pleasant Jr., FHIMSS, CIO and senior vice president, Premier Inc.
Full
story
Upon closer inspection; Modern Healthcare;
3/30/09:
As the U.S. imports more drugs and devices, the Food and Drug
Administration's overseas initiatives are aiming to head off potential
safety concerns at the source. Despite such efforts, some say the agency
has made little headway on other crucial import safety initiatives. “The
FDA has a comprehensive action plan to ensure import safety, however one
of the key measures recommended in the plan is to move forward with
technology standards that could enhance safety and improve the
effectiveness of recalls, such as (universal device identifiers) and
track-and-trace technology,” says Blair Childs, spokesman for the group
purchasing organization Premier. “To date, little progress has been made
in this area, and movement is absolutely critical to ensuring patient
safety.”
Full story (login required)
Best practices: Supply chain top ten; Inside Healthcare;
3/26/09: By now, most hospitals have already
taken a first pass at cutting supply costs – joining group purchasing
organizations, forming value assessment teams, and standardizing commodities.
But there is still work to be done, say supply chain experts. In this article, Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier
Consulting Solutions, identifies some of the processes that can lead to significant savings
along your supply chain.
Full story
Olympic medalist visits youngsters at Premier-sponsored event; The Charlotte (NC) Observer; 3/26/09:
Five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin visited with youngsters
Wednesday afternoon at the Levine Children's Hospital at Carolinas
Medical Center, a Premier owner. Liukin also spoke at the Charlotte
Convention Center on Wednesday evening on behalf of the Charlotte-based
Premier healthcare alliance as a part of a free, open to the public
event. Liukin discussed teen obesity and habits that lead to a healthy
lifestyle, and followed with a question and answer session and a meet
and greet photo session with fans.
Full story
Safety in numbers; Modern Healthcare; 3/23/09: The number
of designated patient-safety organizations, or PSOs, continues to grow
faster than originally anticipated by the federal agency overseeing the
program. Last week, the group purchasing and quality network Premier
announced it had formed a PSO subsidiary to collect and analyze patient
data.
Full story (subscription required)
Premier's new CEO to lead alliance from Charlotte office; Charlotte
(NC) Business Journal; 3/20/09: Susan DeVore sees an opportunity to transform health care. As incoming president and chief executive of
Premier Inc., DeVore plans to position the healthcare alliance for growth, leading the business from Charlotte.
CEO Rick Norling retires from San Diego-based Premier on June 30. DeVore, now Premier's chief operating officer,
will lead its four business units – Premier Purchasing Partners, Premier Healthcare Informatics, Premier
Consulting Solutions and Premier Insurance Management Services Inc.
Full story
Keys to engaging clinicians in clinical IT; Healthcare Financial Management Association;
3/19/09: This article, written by Premier's Richard Bankowitz, MD, vice president and medical director, healthcare
informatics, and Gregory R. Wise, MD, vice president, medical affairs, Kettering Medical Center, discusses
strategies to encourage clinician participation in clinical IT systems. The benefit? Reduced costs and improved
consistency of healthcare across the nation.
Full story
Purchasing points: Leveraging GPO relationships; Advance Laboratory;
3/17/09: This article, written by Premier's Helene Gulczynski, laboratory specialist, and Barbara Maillet, senior directory of laboratory services,
discusses how hospitals and their labs can reduce expenses and optimize the bottom line
by leveraging the relationship with
their group purchasing organization (GPO). While traditionally serving
to help hospitals reduce expenses through strategic contracting,
today's GPO now offers a wide variety of value-added services and creative options to
both lower costs and improve the quality of patient care.
Full story
Mixing drugs; Modern Healthcare; 3/16/09: The latest wave
of pharmaceutical consolidation gathered strength last week, but group
purchasing officials who oversee pharma contracts don't expect major changes
in price to wash over them as a result. Wayne Russell, senior director for
pharmacy affairs at the Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier hospital alliance,
said that the short-term impact of these deals is virtually nil.
Full story (subscription required)
The pressure builds; Modern Healthcare;
3/16/09: This article discusses how the effects of the recession are being felt within in the healthcare construction industry,
yet architects, builders, and engineers
still maintained a busy 2008 – which will likely continue through this year. Mark Kearschner,
Premier construction services director, says there’s still plenty of healthcare construction activity under way,
plus future new construction projects. Gina Pugliese, vice
president, Premier Safety Institute, also noted of the advantages of
single-patient rooms in infection control through the new
construction projects.
Full story
Her goal: Helping heal healthcare; The Charlotte (NC) Observer;
3/14/09:
Susan DeVore, a former healthcare consultant who joined Premier in 2003, succeeds chief executive Rick Norling, who is retiring. "The new job is
continuing to take Premier to the next level," said DeVore. "We're in a
wonderful position to help make healthcare a sustainable system for the future."
Full story
Premier taps DeVore for president, CEO positions; Modern Healthcare;
3/13/09:
Healthcare alliance Premier, Charlotte, N.C., announced the appointment of Susan DeVore to be
its next president and chief executive officer. DeVore, who has spent five years as chief operating officer,
will take over the post on July 1 after the retirement of Premier’s current president and CEO, Rick Norling.
Full story
Premier names incoming CEO; Charlotte (NC) Business Journal;
3/13/09: Health-care alliance Premier Inc. has named Susan DeVore as its
incoming chief executive and president. She replaces Rick Norling, who will
retire. The transition will happen over the next several months.
Full story
Let's heal ourselves first; HealthLeaders Media; 3/12/09:
"Each day, patients trust physicians to make decisions about how to best
treat illnesses. Physicians trust hospitals to provide them with the most
effective medicines and medical equipment. Hospitals trust manufacturers to
produce the most reliable, innovative healthcare products. Together, the
healthcare industry shares a responsibility to honor this trust by abiding
by the highest ethical standards," write Premier President and CEO Richard
Norling and Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for
Applied Ethics and Santa Clara University.
Full story
Premier joins ranks of AHRQ-qualified PSOs; Modern Healthcare;
3/12/09: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality named Premier's
patient-safety organization in its official PSO listing. As an AHRQ
designee, Premier will be able to collect, report and share patient-safety
data for providers that voluntarily participate.
Full story
Ice storm tests KY hospitals' mettle; HealthLeaders Media;
3/11/09: Methodist Hospital, a 205-licensed-bed community hospital in
Henderson, KY, not only kept the lights on when a lot of the region was in
the dark due to a crippling ice storm, but served as a shelter for
townspeople who'd lost power, needed a warm place to sleep and a hot meal,
and had nowhere else to turn. The hospital lost land-line and most of its
cellular telephone services and the icy roads cluttered with downed tree
limbs limited access, but Methodist continued to provide care because of
dedicated employees, a solid emergency management plan, and the help of
suppliers.
Full story
Power plays; Modern Healthcare;
3/9/09: This article discusses how healthcare providers are looking for ways to curtail rising utility
costs. Premier, working in conjunction with Practice Greenhealth, conducts reverse auctions for
its members. The goal, says Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire, is to force down prices by
setting up a competitive atmosphere where each supplier can see the anonymous bids placed by other suppliers.
The auction, bid reviews and vendor selection are completed within roughly five hours, with the contract going
to the supplier offering the best terms and pricing.
Premier member, Ingalls Health System,
for example, realized
$840,000 in savings on its purchase of renewable electricity
and natural gas through the Premier SPHERE program.
Full story
Flu syringe debacle points to priority of sharps safety; TMC News;
3/7/09: When a local public health department in California opened packages of FluVirin pre-filled syringes to start the flu immunization campaign,
the vaccine administrators were stunned. Contrary to federal law and regulation, the syringes had a fixed needle with no safety device. Gina
Pugliese, RN, MS, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute,
worked for years to convince manufacturers not to sell pre-filled syringes with fixed, conventional needles or kits with nonsafety syringes. "I'm surprised that in 2008, that there would be a pre-filled vaccine made without a safety needle,
considering OSHA has specifically mandated safety devices since 2001," Pugliese says.
Full story
Technology aids medical detectives in tracking HAIs; Healthcare Purchasing News;
3/09 issue: This article looks at Premier’s SafetySurveillor and how it helps more than 200 hospitals nationwide prevent healthcare-associated infections, as well as its role in the Premier QUEST project. The article also discusses the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust, a project that Premier collaborating on with Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) and the South Carolina Hospital Association.
Full story
Healthcare systems could get help with electronic records; Charlotte (NC) Business Journal;
2/27/09: This article examines how local healthcare providers that already have electronic health records systems
can still benefit from
federal economic stimulus funds. Premier's Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs, advises that "the money can be used to offset system upgrades
and maintenance expenses as well as startup costs."
Full story
Op-ed: Why one size doesn't fit all in medicine; The Boston Globe;
2/23/09: This op-ed piece discusses the importance of comparative effectiveness research and how "by harnessing the extraordinary
resources of the federal government, the newly created [Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research]
could...improve the delivery of care," just as Premier has done for its members through its data used by healthcare personnel to
help them make more informed decisions.
Full story
Partnership will bring care facilities together to reduce infections;
SC Now; 2/21/09: This article looks at the efforts of the state
of South Carolina to fight healthcare-associated infections through a
collaborative co-sponsored by Premier. "Putting infection control at the top
of our agenda is so critical to the quality of life to our patients," said
Lynda Wymbs, chief quality officer for Premier alliance member Carolinas
Hospital System, who added that the collaborative "could only make a
hospital visit safer."
Full story
Will we make history?; Hospitals & Health Networks;
2/15/09: This article discusses how health reform has been a national concern since the 1930s. With a new, determined president,
growing consensus and billions in federal funds, dramatic change may now be at hand. Premier's Blair Childs, senior vice president
of public affairs, offers solutions that must be included within reform,
including new payment models based on health outcomes
and efficiencies rather than volume. “Quality and cost do not have to be in opposition; they should go hand in glove,” Childs says.
Full story
Proposed federal health board could take decision-making away from
Congress; Hospitals
& Health Networks;
2/15/09: This article discusses the proposal of a federal health board, which "would be a quasi-governmental entity sheltered from partisan
politics through long-term appointments and empowered to make decisions on important and controversial health care issues." Premier's Blair
Childs, senior vice president of public affairs, believes "it would take it out of the political process and diminish the role of
advocacy groups."
Full story
House/Senate negotiators put final touches on stimulus package; BNA Health Care Daily Report; 2/13/09: House and Senate negotiators late Feb. 12 were putting the final touches on economic stimulus legislation (H.R. 1) that
includes funding for numerous health care programs. "This legislation will include essential provisions that will preserve the financial health of the nation's hospitals.
These funds represent a down-payment for hospitals to continue to make investments in improving the safety,
affordability and quality of care," said the Premier healthcare alliance
in a statement released to BNA.
Full story
(subscription required)
Tech efforts help hospitals improve infection control; Modern Healthcare;
2/10/09: Health Sciences South Carolina, the South Carolina Hospital Association
and the Premier healthcare alliance have announced a collaboration aimed at
disseminating research and best practices throughout the 65 hospitals that are
participating statewide. Two other quality projects Premier has worked on with
national and federal organizations – QUEST and the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality
Incentive Demonstration – have shown these types of collaborations and
standardized efforts can lead to improvement in care, said Susan DeVore,
Premier’s chief operating officer. “We know this works if you mobilize hospitals
and you mobilize data-capture,” she added.
Full story (login required)
Hospitals fighting infection; The Charlotte (NC) Observer;
2/8/09: Piedmont Medical Center has joined forces with other S.C.
hospitals in an effort to eliminate infections that patients pick up in the
hospital, officials say. The trust includes Health Sciences South Carolina,
the S.C. Hospital Association and the Charlotte-based Premier healthcare
alliance. The three partners plan to invest more than $1.7 million over
three years in the effort.
Full story
Zero infections; The (Rock Hill, SC) Herald; 2/6/09: Piedmont Medical Center
has joined forces with other South Carolina hospitals in an ongoing effort to
eliminate infections that patients pick up in the hospital, officials say.
"We're pushing for zero infections," chief medical officer Richard Patterson
said. The hospital is one of the state's 65 acute care hospitals that are
participating in the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust – a voluntary
hospital and research university initiative that will address health care
quality challenges.
Full story
S.C. hospitals trying to stop infections; The Charlotte (NC) Observer;
2/6/09: South Carolina's private and university research hospitals are banding together to identify and curb
hospital infections. Curbing infections could save the state's hospitals as much as $40 million a year
and reduce the length of stay of patients by up to 24,000 days annually, according to the newly formed
South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust. The trust is a partnership of Health Sciences South Carolina,
S.C. Hospital Association and the Premier healthcare alliance, a quality and cost improvement alliance of
2,100 not-for-profit hospitals nationwide.
Full story
SC group establishes quality trust; FierceHealthcare; 2/5/09: A group of
healthcare organizations – including the South Carolina Hospital Association,
Health Sciences South Carolina and Premier healthcare alliance – are coming
together to study methods for lowering the incidence of patient harm and cutting
costs, as well as improving the overall health of state residents.
Full story
South Carolina hospitals could save $40M monitoring infections; Healthcare Finance News;
2/5/09: South Carolina's 65 acute care hospitals are banding together to prevent healthcare-acquired infections across
the state. Key to the effort is the use of an automated infection-monitoring tool developed by the Premier
healthcare alliance. Premier will also develop an information-sharing portal to support the initiative.
Full story
South Carolina healthcare quality trust established; Modern
Healthcare; 2/5/09: Health Sciences South Carolina, the South
Carolina Hospital Association and Premier healthcare alliance announced that
they established the South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust to study ways
of reducing patient harm and costs while improving the general health of the
state’s residents. The three-year quality trust is a partnership of the
three organizations, with all 65 acute-care hospitals in the state planning
to participate.
Full story (login required)
S.C. hospitals partner to reduce healthcare-related infections;
Healthcare Purchasing News; 2/5/09: South Carolina’s private and
university research hospitals are banding together to identify and curb
hospital infections, the group announced Wednesday. Curbing infections could
save the state’s hospitals as much as $40 million a year and reduce the
length of stay of patients by up to 24,000 days annually, according to the
newly formed South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust.
Full
story
South Carolina hospitals to eliminate infections, reduce cost of care;
Infection Control Today; 2/4/09: In an effort to reduce avoidable
deaths, patient harm and healthcare costs, all 65 acute-care hospitals in
South Carolina have joined a collaborative aimed at eliminating preventable
healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) statewide while safely reducing
associated costs.
Full story
South Carolina program puts HAIs in the crosshairs; HealthLeaders
Media; 2/4/09: Midday today marks the launch of the South Carolina
Healthcare Quality Trust, a statewide, voluntary hospital quality
collaborative to reduce hospital-acquired infections and their associated
costs.
Full story
Group formed to investigate hospital-acquired infections; WIS-TV
(Columbia, SC); 2/4/09: Three key health groups came together
Wednesday to announce the formation of the South Carolina Healthcare Quality
Trust. The group is a collaborative effort throughout the state to see why
there are so many hospital-acquired infections.
Full story
Op-ed: University, hospital goal: Eliminate infections; The
(Columbia, SC) State; 2/4/09: This op-ed from Dr. Jay Moskowitz, CEO and president of Health Sciences South Carolina, discusses the
South Carolina Healthcare Quality Trust. According to Moskowitz, "...this unique statewide partnership seeks to
eliminate preventable infections in South Carolina’s hospitals, to make them safer for patients, family
members and employees." Through this collaborative, hospitals will be able to track their improvement
against state and national benchmarks via Premier’s Performance Improvement Portal.
Full story
HAI prevention effort launched; Health Data Management; 2/4/09:
All 65 hospitals in South Carolina are collaborating in an effort to
eliminate preventable health care-associated infections and reduce costs.
The effort includes formation of an information-sharing portal to research
causes of infections and identify and promote processes for prevention.
Full
story
Healthcare Quality Trust formed to curb infections at hospitals;
Charleston (SC) Regional Business Journal; 2/4/09: Health Sciences
South Carolina, the S.C. Hospital Association and the Premier Inc. health
care alliance have announced the formation of the S.C. Healthcare Quality
Trust, a voluntary, statewide hospital and research university partnership.
The collaborative will employ research to identify causes of, and solutions
to, preventable infections and then will share the results with all 65 of
the state’s acute-care hospitals. The three partners will invest more than
$1.7 million over three years.
Full story
Lax needle use in clinics raises alarm; The Wall Street Journal;
2/4/09: This article, featuring Premier's Gina Pugliese, looks at unsafe
injection practices as one of the leading causes of infections in
doctors' offices, outpatient clinics and long term care facilities,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Full story
Data integrity: The quest for meaningful, usable data is accelerating
as a P4P surge sweeps healthcare; Healthcare Informatics; 2/09 issue:
It's hard to think of a more apt – if gruesome – "what if" example to
demonstrate the data integrity challenge. The example comes from Erica
Drazen, Sc.D., partner in the Lexington, Mass.-based Emerging Practices
division at CSC Corporation (Falls Church, Va.). "It's what I call the
diabetic foot exam example," she says.
Full story
Clinical transformation: Under pressure to alter the cost/quality
paradigm, hospital organizations are turning to IT; Healthcare Informatics;
2/09 issue: By every measure – intensifying reimbursement changes, legislative
and regulatory mandates, and media coverage – the demand on the part of
purchasers and payers for a fundamental transformation in healthcare quality
and patient safety will be agenda item number one for hospital organizations
in the years to come. And, increasingly, C-suite executives and boards are
realizing that clinical transformation is not truly possible without IT.
That puts CIOs in a position which is both enviable and daunting.
Full story
President, provider groups hail SCHIP passage; Modern Healthcare;
1/30/09: The president and provider groups alike hailed the Senate's
passage of a $32.8 billion bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health
Insurance Program. Expanding coverage "represents a major step forward in
preserving the financial health of hospitals, many of which have been
providing unsustainable levels of uncompensated care in part because of cuts
in state health insurance programs and the rise in unemployment," Blair
Childs, senior vice president of public affairs with the Premier healthcare
alliance, said in a statement.
Full story (login required)
What you didn't know about Premier's Jena Abernathy; Charlotte
eVentures Magazine; 1/09 issue: This Q&A interview with the
Charlotte, NC, Chamber of Commerce's quarterly magazine features Premier
Chief Administrative Officer Jena Abernathy.
Full story
Hospitals sign on for Premier program; Charlotte (NC) Business
Journal; 1/20/09: Twenty-seven hospitals and health systems have
joined a new Premier Inc. health-care alliance program designed to improve
supply-chain performance. Premier says its Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor
program provides simplified purchasing processes and specially-negotiated
contract benefits for its members.
Full story
Weathering the recession; Materials Management in Healthcare;
1/15/09: This article, featuring Premier alliance member Anne Arundel Medical Center and Premier’s Mike Alkire, looks at the pressures the healthcare supply chain is facing during the economic downturn. Alkire says
Premier is willing to explore nontraditional agreements, including bundling agreements, to meet the needs of both Premier hospitals and suppliers.
Full story
Automated tools aid in infection control; Materials Management in Health
Care;
1/15/09: This article, featuring Premier alliance member St. Elizabeth Medical Center, looks at how the hospital is working to reduce
healthcare-associated infections using Premier's SafetySurveillor.
Full story
Why aren't all hospitals using electronic surveillance to catch bad
germs?; HealthLeaders Media; 1/13/09: To date only about one-third of U.S. hospitals use an electronic infection control tool, says Scott Pope, PharmD, national
director of SafetySurveillor, one such tool, at Premier Inc., in Charlotte, NC. But, that number will grow as more states implement
infection reporting mandates and the Department of Health and Human Services' five-year plan to reduce healthcare-associated infections
gets under way, Pope says.
Full story
As Obama seeks stimulus some wonder where the funds will be going;
Modern Healthcare; 1/12/09: In a letter last week, the Premier health alliance asked top congressional leaders to include health IT provisions in any
stimulus package they approve. Among other things, Premier called for the mandatory adoption of interoperability standards to
store and transmit data within an electronic health record. "Whether it's in the stimulus package or not is still an open
question," said Blair Childs, spokesman for Premier. Childs added that an investment in health IT was one of Obama's primary
campaign promises.
Full story
(subscription required)
Battling the clones; Modern Healthcare;
1/12/09: In another move to expand its green healthcare effort, Premier alliance member Catholic Healthcare West,
a 38-hospital system with facilities in Arizona, California and Nevada, announced that it has begun work to eliminate
genetically engineered sugar beet and cloned-animal meat and dairy products from its food-supply chain. This article also
features comments from Premier's Bob Juerjens regarding the importance of labeling food and ingredients consisting of
genetically engineered plants and cloned-animal products.
Full story
(subscription required)
Washington outlook: Quality push continues; Modern Healthcare;
1/12/09: This article, featuring insights from Premier's Blair Childs, discusses the outlook for the healthcare industry under the new
administration. Says Childs, "The financial pressures on healthcare are so huge, it's imperative that we increase the drive toward improving quality, which we have learned can also reduce costs."
Full story
(login required)
Premier: Put I.T. in stimulus package; Health Data Management;
1/7/09: On January 7, Premier sent a letter to the majority and minority
leaders of the U.S. House and Senate, urging lawmakers to mandate adoption
of transaction and semantic interoperability standards for the storage and
transmission of data captured in an electronic health record.
Full story
Outlook 2009: Change is coming; Modern Healthcare;
1/5/09: This article, featuring Premier's Susan DeVore and Blair Childs, discusses predicted changes in healthcare in 2009. DeVore believes Congress and President-elect Obama "are likely to back legislation creating a federally sanctioned organization that will be responsible for evaluating and comparing the efficacy and costs of similar medical devices and drugs." According to Childs, "some form of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which was introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) in 2007, will be passed into law this year."
Full story
(login required)
Going green, saving green; Southtown Star (Chicago); 1/4/09: This article, featuring Premier alliance member Ingalls Memorial, looks at Ingalls'
successes as a part of the Premier SPHERE collaborative.
Full story
Lessons learned from the storm fronts; Healthcare Purchasing News;
1/09 issue: Roughly a week shy of four years after the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, crisis management executives at Premier Inc. answered their final
wake-up call. Hurricane Katrina was pounding the Gulf Coast and submerging
portions of New Orleans. Hospitals quickly attracted more patients than they
had stocked supplies and available clinicians and other healthcare workers.
Full story