West Virginia Health System Engages Premier Inc. on Total Cost Management

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  — WVU Medicine (also known as West Virginia University Health System), a regional, academic health system, has expanded its partnership with Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a healthcare improvement company, to enable a total cost improvement initiative. The health system is leveraging Premier’s data and consulting services to identify and implement solutions that improve the quality of care and reduce costs.

The expanded partnership allows WVU Medicine access to robust spend, utilization and clinical practice analytics from the PremierConnect® performance improvement platform and Premier’s consulting services team to foster more effective management of their supply and pharmaceutical portfolio and accelerate improvement strategies. Additionally, WVU Medicine is working with Premier to implement its Medicare ACO and other population health management efforts as a member of Premier’s Population Health Management Advanced Collaborative.

“Our goal is to improve the health of our communities through excellence in patient care, research and education,” said Doug Coffman, senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer, WVU Medicine. “Premier has been our partner for almost two decades. Beyond driving better spend performance, we look forward to continuing to work with Premier to reduce variation within operations, purchasing and care delivery practices to improve resource utilization.”

WVU Medicine is working with Premier consultants to evolve its clinical care and value analysis governance structure, enabling comparative effectiveness and integrated clinical decision making processes for improved patient outcomes.

“WVU Medicine is a national leader in patient quality and safety and has demonstrated a strong commitment to meeting the unique challenges and needs of its communities,” said Kelly Rakowski, senior vice president of consulting and collaborative services at Premier. “It seems only natural that our work with them has evolved and progressed to address overall health system operations, going beyond the low-hanging fruit and focusing on variation in care delivery and the healthcare supply chain. We’re thrilled to support them in this endeavor to positively impact both patient outcomes and affordability.”

The financial impact of the agreement was not disclosed.

About WVU Medicine

With more than 15,000 employees and annual revenues approaching $2.5 billion, WVU Medicine is West Virginia’s premier academic health system and provider of advanced specialty care. WVU Medicine includes the specialists, sub-specialists, and primary care physicians of West Virginia University (through its affiliated faculty practices in Morgantown, Charleston, and Martinsburg); the WVU Cancer Institute; the WVU Eye Institute; the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute; and eight  West Virginia hospitals and their employed/affiliated physician office practices and clinics, including Ruby Memorial Hospital, United Hospital Center, Camden Clark Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Potomac Valley Hospital, Berkeley Medical Center, Jefferson Medical Center, and Reynolds Memorial Hospital. WVU Medicine also includes dozens of medical offices and a diverse network of affiliated organizations. To learn more, visit WVUMedicine.org.

Forward-looking statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, such as WVU Medicine’s anticipated use of Premier’s performance and supply chain services at expected levels, as discussed herein, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Premier to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “plans” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include comments as to Premier’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside Premier’s control. More information on potential factors that could affect Premier’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Premier’s periodic and current filings with the SEC and available on Premier’s website at investors.premierinc.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise that occur after that date.