Case Studies
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Learn about how Premier won the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
| Case Study | Tools & Services used |
| Premier's first regional collaborative has savings near the $7 million mark and growing Southern Premier Owners Group acts as "virtual IDN" to drive savings; 13 members have worked together successfully since September 2003. Full story (.pdf) 5/08 |
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| Large Kentucky healthcare system expects
to save $1 million in first year with SpendAdvisor Baptist Healthcare System was able to pay all expenses associated with using Premier’s innovative spend management decision-support tool for three years with savings generated in just the first three months of use. Full story (.pdf) 5/08 |
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| Bon Secours Health System saves $125 million since
2002 using Premier labor productivity tool. Bon Secours Health System’s commitment to initiate a maximum-impact labor management program is paying big dividends. OperationsAdvisor™ combined with Performance Partners pays off. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Alamance Regional Medical Center saves more than
$2 million in first year using SpendAdvisor, spend management
decision support tool. The Burlington, N.C. hospital doubled its annual savings goal. Users found the tool not only provides useful information quickly but also helps physicians understand how their decisions drive hospital costs. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Premier’s “Executive Scorecard on the Environment”
provides an important “green” baseline snapshot for Saint Francis
Care Successfully implementing environmental initiatives depends heavily on a hospital’s ability to monitor and track progress. The 617-bed Hartford, CT-based medical center has done an impressive job documenting its progress using the special tool developed by the Premier Safety Institute. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Baptist Healthcare System in Kentucky
reduces labor expense nearly $70 million in 13 years Partnership with Premier, OperationsAdvisorTM help make effective labor management part of culture at five-hospital IDN. Full story (.pdf) |
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| By switching to the Premier alliance King’s
Daughters Medical Center in Kentucky decreases supply costs $1.7
million even as services grow In the past five years, King’s Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) in Ashland, Ky., has set records for admissions, births, and cardiac procedures. The medical center also set its sights on another milestone: lowering supply expense as a percentage of total patient revenue even while continuing its growth. KDMC chose to work with Premier, and in the first year using the alliance’s contracts, KDMC saved $1.7 million. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| SSM Health Care enhances revenue - supply chain cost link in
Premier alliance collaborative uncovering $1.3 million opportunity
to improve finances of just one of its 19 hospitals By participating in the Premier alliance’s Sixth Annual Collaborative Breakthroughs Series, St. Louis-based SSM Health Care uncovered a significant opportunity to improve the financial health of one of its hospitals. It also identified system-wide improvements that will strengthen linkages between supply chain operations and the revenue cycle that could enhance the organization’s ability to serve its communities. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Mercy Iowa City’s Cath Lab reduces supply utilization By participating in the Premier healthcare alliance’s Sixth Annual Collaborative Breakthroughs Series (CBTS), Mercy Hospital in Iowa City engaged with its physicians and is expected to save more than $240,000 per year in cath lab supply expenses. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Data-driven physician dialogue leads to big savings for St.
Joseph/Candler orthopedics, neurosurgery programs Through participation in Premier’s Sixth Annual Collaborative Breakthroughs Series, Savannah, Ga.-based St. Joseph/Candler reduced costs in its orthopedic and neurosurgery programs by $400,000 in just eight months. The system also accelerated improvement efforts and enhanced relationships with its physicians. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Central Texas health system strengthens contracting processes
by participating in Premier’s breakthrough series St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan, Texas implemented more than $800,000 in contract related savings by participating in the Sixth Annual Collaborative Breakthroughs Series sponsored by Premier. Full story (.pdf) |
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| 2007 Culinary Clinic Summer Culinary Clinics offer hands-on training to food production staff Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Collaborative effort with Premier yields supply
chain improvements at Evangelical Community Hospital; purchasing reorganized, savings at $700,000+ Through a multi-faceted effort with the Premier healthcare alliance, Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, Pa., in just nine months streamlined its purchasing process, engaged with its physicians and saved more than $700,000 in supply expenses. And that’s just the beginning. Future savings are expected to top $1 million annually. For a small community hospital, that’s more than significant – it’s huge. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| After 7 years of losses, Anna Jaques Hospital
achieved a financial turnaround in a year; Yankee Alliance, Premier
help Massachusetts hospital For nearly seven years, Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, MA had been losing money. Over a seven-year period the 123-bed hospital that had lost $20 million despite strong revenues and community support. With the help of Yankee Alliance and Premier the hospital in about 12 months turned a $1.5 million loss to a $56,000 operating surplus. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| With Premier’s SpendAdvisor, Mississippi health
system reduces supply chain expense by $10 million in one year
Mississippi Baptist Health System in Jackson, Miss., doubled supply chain savings in the 2006 fiscal year to more than $10 million thanks to robust information available real-time from SpendAdvisor. Savings were due to utilization of Premier’s Supply Chain Advisor and SpendAdvisor for contract activation and contract optimization. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Working together, 40 hospitals in three states
save $18 million through Western North Carolina Health Network They range from 20-bed hospitals in tucked-away North Carolina mountain towns to large urban medical centers with the latest in sophisticated medical technology. Yet by working together with Premier through the Western North Carolina Health Network (WNCHN), the 40 hospitals together have reduced supply chain expenses by nearly $18 million since 2001. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| A pharmacy supply chain success story: Premier
helps five-hospital Baptist Healthcare System in Kentucky identify
potential pharmacy savings Working together in a recently completed engagement, the pharmacy team at Baptist Healthcare System (BHS) in Kentucky and consulting pharmacists from Premier’s Supply Chain Performance Improvement team identified potential savings in all major clinical specialties with the most significant savings opportunities in blood products ($462,000), anti-infective drugs ($221,900), contracting opportunities ($143,000) and cardiology ($142,000). Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Leveraging the Premier alliance to capture greater
savings, additional member value in the medical nutrition portfolio;
Total savings exceed $1.1 million in first eight months of contract
uptake Premier members have always understood that the alliance’s purchasing portfolio delivers superior value. But when it comes to smaller purchasing categories that don’t share the limelight with their higher dollar cousins, members may sometimes overlook important savings opportunities. A recent case in point – the significant value captured by members taking advantage of recently awarded contracts for medical nutrition products, including enteral feeding formulas and devices. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Capturing the value of Premier’s
facilities portfolio Premier members have always understood that Premier’s purchasing portfolio delivers superior value. St. Rita’s Medical Center has utilized Premier’s facilities agreements in its $130 million construction project. Projected savings are more than $1 million – about 10 percent off of $9 million in purchases. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Ingalls Health System in Illinois achieves
three-fourths of three-year savings goal in a year; former Novation
member realizes $512,351 in “exact match savings” When Ingalls Health System became a Premier member in 2005 expectations were high that there would be significant improvement in supply chain expense. Premier’s challenge was to reduce supply costs by at least $4.33 million in three years; after only 12 months, Premier has helped Ingalls achieve 78 percent of that goal. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Premier Foodservice ahead of the curve: Leading
the way toward healthier alternatives Premier Foodservice members have always counted on the Premier portfolio for the highest quality products at the lowest price. But when it comes to foodservice purchases, food choices have a significant nutritional and environmental impact as well. Premier helps members with limited resources successfully find healthier alternatives and still balance the budget. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| By aligning incentives with GPO partner Premier,
Catholic Healthcare Partners saves $16.8 million Exciting things can happen when a healthcare system and its GPO align incentives for maximum benefit. Just ask Catholic Healthcare Partners in Cincinnati where a Premier integrated delivery network capital specialist working inside the organization for three years documented co-produced savings of more than $16.8 million. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Child Health Corporation of America Owner
Hospitals realize $4.5M in savings with Premier’s SpendAdvisor In the past 18 months, the 33 CHCA Owner Hospitals have saved at least $4.5 million using the Pharmacy Spend component of SpendAdvisor, Premier's groundbreaking new spend analytics tool. “SpendAdvisor is a powerful tool,” said Linea Wilson, CHCA director of group purchasing services. “It has given us the ability to create meaningful reports for our Owner Hospitals about pharmacy spend – on contract, off contract, non-contract, purchasing by volume and market share, just for starters.” Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Summa Health System, Premier team up to arrange
model Supplier Diversity Fair Summa Health System and Premier presented a first-of-its-kind regional supplier diversity fair in Akron, Ohio, in the spring, and it could become a model for similar events in other regions of the country. The May 4th Supplier Diversity Fair was co-sponsored by Summa, Premier, and the Northern Ohio Minority Business Council (NOMBC). Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Premier's new comprehensive, multi-disciplinary
consulting solution finds performance-enhancing cardiology
opportunities Service Line Solutions, the Premier alliance's innovative new approach to physician preference consulting, has identified more than $4.5 million in performance-enhancing opportunities in cardiology at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minn. Full Story (.pdf) |
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| Premier supply chain performance improvement
experts help Bon Secours save nearly $6 million on physician
preference items Managing high-dollar physician preference items is a challenge for any hospital. Advanced medical devices – stents, implants, and pacemakers – typically account for 40 percent of most hospitals’ supply expenditures. Yet they often elude hospitals’ normal purchasing checks and balances Full story (.pdf) |
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| Outsourcing lead executive supply chain position
better aligns savings incentives for IDN It’s difficult to serve two masters especially when each is a large, demanding organization with an eagle eye on bottom line results. But Kevin Hines has managed to do it successfully for almost 10 years. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Laboratory clinical specialists save Premier
members $10.7 million, increase contract uptake by $46 million Premier Purchasing Partner’s three-member team of laboratory clinical specialists has saved members of the health care alliance more than $10.7 million since the unit was formed less than 18 months ago while at the same time increasing contract volume by nearly $46 million. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Premier consultants help St. Joseph’s/Candler top
three-year, $1.74 million savings goal in less than two years Less than two years after Premier’s Supply Chain Performance Improvement (SCPI) consultants initiated a comprehensive partnership to reduce non-labor expense for the two-hospital system, St. Joseph’s/Candler (SJ/C) in Savannah, Ga., savings already have topped the project’s three-year $1.74 million savings goal. Full story (.pdf) |
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| SCPI nets Avera McKennan potential $500,000
in savings When Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center lost nearly $2 million last year on total joint replacements (TJR), administrators of the Sioux Falls, S.D., flagship of the region's largest health system knew it was time for action, not talk. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Premier helps West Penn Allegheny Health System
develop five-year patient care capital spending plan When Dave Natale and Arlene Caputo were invited to The Western Pennsylvania Hospital in February 2004 to assess imaging equipment needs, little did they realize that it was just a beginning. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Aurora Health Care saves $5 million
annually on orthopedic implants To improve its operating margins and move to a more balanced focus on reducing cost while increasing revenue, Aurora Health Care recently undertook a series of cost-reduction initiatives that identified nearly $33 million in potential savings opportunities. Full story (.pdf) |
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| CardiacFocus supply chain benchmarking tool
By utilizing CardiacFocus, Baton Rouge General Medical Center realized more than $300,000 in savings for pacemakers in the first year alone. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Better
Performers in Cardiovascular Care Premier’s Better Performers in Cardiovascular Care study examines how 10 member hospitals deliver better clinical care at lower costs while treating large numbers of patients. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Heartland Health: Improving Cardiovascular
Quality While Reducing Costs Working with Premier's Supply Chain Performance Improvement (SCPI) consultants, health system HQI teams developed a Cardiovascular Services Total Performance Improvement (TPI) program that not only improved quality outcomes, it also reduced costs. Full story |
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| Maximizing the value of Premier Vendor
contracts on GHXe One of Henry Ford Health Systems goals for 2005 is to maximize the value of Premier, Inc. vendor contracts by further integrating GHX, the Global Healthcare Exchange, into the system's supply chain management. Full story |
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| Banner Health: Supply Chain
savings in obstetrics? Not one of the usual suspects.
When a financial officer, clinical supply chain lead or materials manager starts looking for supply chain savings, there are a few well-known areas to investigate. But that didn't stop Banner Health from looking in an atypical place, and finding a surprisingly large savings opportunity. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Maximize the value of Premier
contracts By utilizing Premier contracts the Carle Foundation
Hospital, Urbana, IL, saved nearly $500,000 on a new construction
project. Full story |
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| Delivering supply chain results Participating in a collaborative improvement effort with other Premier members, Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital, Nacogdoches, TX, achieved more than $1.1 million in supply chain improvement savings. Full story |
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| Getting surgeons’ support for cost-saving ideas Materials Management staff at Chesapeake General Hospital knew they had to have the surgeons’ buy-in if they were to succeed in reducing costs in surgery. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Delivering supply chain results Participating in a collaborative improvement effort with other Premier members, the Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, IL, achieved more than $1.1 million in supply chain improvement savings. Full story |
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| Five Arizona Hospitals achieve $250,000
savings on GI/Endo supplies The system's five medical centers in Arizona recently invited Premier's Supply Chain Performance Improvement (SCPI) consultants to conduct an assessment of their GI Lab and Endo programs. Full story (.pdf) |
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| Increased Contract Compliance Drives
Savings at Rural Hospital Located in the northeast corner of Washington State on the border with Canada to the north and Idaho to the east, Newport Community Hospital operates profitably unlike many small, rural hospitals. Full story (.pdf) |
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