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CONTACT:
Amanda Forster
Premier Inc.
202.879.8004

Premier healthcare alliance launches new pharmacy contracts for 10,500 generic drugs, priced to save members $60 million to $70 million a year over current spend

Contracted portfolio changes can be analyzed with new impact analysis tool to automatically identify price changes and savings opportunities. Industry-first contracts also classified according to safety attributes.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (August 12, 2009) – The Premier healthcare alliance launched new contracts for approximately 10,500 drugs used in the hospital pharmacy. These 36-month contracts include the majority of products in the Premier generic pharmacy portfolio, as well as several branded and nondrug product categories. New contracts represent savings over the current portfolio of 2.8 percent, which should save Premier members $60 million to $70 million a year.

"Significantly reducing drug costs in a year when prices are expected to increase by nearly 6 percent was a challenge, but these savings are urgently needed by hospitals who are struggling every day with a troubling economic outlook and declining reimbursements," said Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners, LP.

As an integral part of the launch, Premier also released the new Impact Analytics tool, designed to help members understand the financial impact of the new portfolio and easily identify savings opportunities. Designed with input from Premier's members, this tool will simplify the process of analyzing contract changes by presenting data in simple dashboards based on criteria selected by the hospitals. Impact Analytics is fully integrated within PharmacySpend™, the alliance's pharmacy-specific spend management decision-support tool used to help members select appropriate purchasing tiers, view conversions/generic equivalents, and assess performance programs and rebate offers.

As an industry-first feature of the new contracts, Premier will identify specific attributes of all products in the portfolio to help members make purchasing decisions related to the safety of patients and the environment – for example, latex or mercury-free. Pharmaceutical products with latex, such as medication vial stoppers or syringe plungers, may cause serious or fatal allergic reactions if used on patients with latex allergies. Identification of "sugar-free" is another concern for pediatric patients with diabetes, especially those who might be on long-term therapy or on multiple oral medications. Other safety attributes that have been collected as part of the bid process include bar coding at the unit of use and alcohol-free products.

"This portfolio clearly establishes Premier as a market leader committed to contracting safe, high-quality products," said Gina Pugliese, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute™. "By collecting information on the safety attributes of these drugs, we are helping our members deliver quality care at the most affordable price."

Another significant benefit of the new contracts is the substantial expansion of the generic auto-substitution program injectable pharmaceutical products, with its average added savings of at least 10 percent off Premier’s contract pricing. The auto-substitution program is now available for 350 drug products, providing members further competitive pricing and opportunities to enhance standardization.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 80,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. https://premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.