Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, has created a comprehensive database which is expected to drive savings for members in the challenging area of purchased services and help to increase utilization of group purchasing contracts. With more than $125 billion in purchased services spend information, leaders can now identify additional opportunities to curb overspending within purchased services – a fast-growing target for hospital operations savings. This database provides Premier the ability to examine and compare variations in purchased services spending among hospitals and health systems.
“Between 2014 and 2017, the number of facilities working with Premier in the area of purchased services has grown by nearly 80 percent, during which time we have seen a 54 percent increase in reported member spend through our purchased services program,” said Peter Aftosmes, Vice President, Strategic Supplier Engagement at Premier. “The data enables us to bring transparency to more savings opportunities, which increases contract uptake in these opportunities.”
Purchased services can represent up to one-third of a health system’s total expenditures, making this database extremely valuable for Premier members looking for new ways to manage costs, improve margins, and increase contract utilization. Examples of purchased services categories that Premier offers its members include contingent labor and workforce solutions, clinical equipment repair and maintenance services, and environmental and facilities management services. These resources are crucial to hospital operations, but accessing external data on pricing trends is limited without assistance from a third-party partner. Gaining transparency into this area of spend is a central pillar within a total cost management approach to improving margins.
“Healthcare leaders cannot do this work alone,” said George Hersch, System Vice President, Materiel Management of Norton Healthcare, a healthcare system with more than 40 clinics and six hospitals in and around Louisville, Kentucky. “Working with Premier, we are able to examine market pressures and leverage evidence-based data to improve our positioning, identify spending variation, and ultimately enhance financial performance. This resource shines a new light on the challenging area of purchased services spending, and Premier is providing a resource that we have not seen anywhere before.”
Using the data generated by this complimentary service for GPO members, Premier has already recognized many ways for its members to more effectively save costs and improve contract utilization. For example, in analyzing rental vehicle spend combined with several other metrics, Premier’s purchased services team identified the need to partner with a ridesharing company to help effectively transport patients to and from their medical appointments – a valuable service for patients and providers that is now available to members.
About Premier Inc.
Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,900 U.S. hospitals and health systems and approximately 150,000 other providers and organizations. With integrated data and analytics, collaborative, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare. Please visit Premier’s news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com; as well as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Premier’s blog for more information about the company.
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Contacts:
Kate Enos, 202-879-4105
Kate_Enos@PremierInc.Com
