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Alven Weil
Premier Inc.
704.733.5797

Kentucky hospital achieves supply chain savings through Premier healthcare alliance's ASCEND program, MySpend spend management solution

Methodist Hospital among approximately 150 hospitals representing $3 billion in purchasing volume collaborating to drive rapid supply chain performance improvements

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (December 14, 2009) – Methodist Hospital of Henderson, Ky., has realized significant supply chain savings by participating in the Premier healthcare alliance's ASCEND™ program and by using Premier's SpendAdvisor^® MySpend™ spend management decision-support solution.

In September 2009 alone, Methodist reduced supply chain expenses as a percent of operating revenue from 13.46 percent to 12.17 percent. In October, the positive trend continued at the two hospitals and physician clinics. The combined total for medical supplies, food and drugs, and general supplies was down 9.14 percent when compared to budget.

"Numbers don’t lie. I've been very pleased with ASCEND. It's only going to get better," said Don Nauser Jr., director, Materials Management at Methodist Hospital. "Some suppliers have come full circle in their opinion of ASCEND and what Premier's trying to do. Some major players realized they were going to be left behind if they didn't embrace the concept. Some didn't give ASCEND any credibility initially. We have accomplished what we wanted to do, and that's to affect market share."

ASCEND (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) helps hospitals achieve and sustain rapid improvements in supply chain performance. MySpend, Premier's proprietary analytical tools that identify opportunities to reduce overall supply expenses, is a key component of the program.

Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire said that "independent hospitals, particularly smaller ones in rural areas, must remain viable to compete and serve their communities. The economic downturn has not made it easy for hospitals, like Methodist, to serve their communities while competing with larger hospitals within easy driving distance."

Responding to the challenge, Premier developed ASCEND to encourage ongoing efforts to control and reduce costs through simplified purchasing processes, appropriate clinical utilization and specially negotiated contracts. About 150 participants representing $3 billion in supply chain purchasing volume are collaborating to share best practices in supply chain efficiency as a part of the program. Since May 2009, participants in the program have reduced their supply expenses in recently launched categories by up to 24 percent.

Methodist has been using the MySpend solution since July and now has a much better picture of its supply spend. "MySpend has paid for itself already, several times over. It's an incredible tool. If I had enough time, I'd use it for hours," said Nauser. "For instance, I found I was paying over contract price in a particular category. The amount of money vendors owe us is in the tens of thousands of dollars. That would never have been caught before."

ASCEND also accesses Premier's comparative database and clinical focus tools, including SupplyFocus^®, which have helped hospitals achieve a wide range of contract benefits. SpineFocus™, OrthopedicFocus™ and CardiacFocus™ also provide blended and blinded pricing benchmarks in high-cost, high-margin physician preference areas.

About Methodist Hospital
Methodist Hospital, Henderson, Ky., provides services to Henderson, Union and Webster counties. The 216-bed hospital also operates a 25-bed critical access hospital in Morganfield. Methodist recently opened a Women's Pavilion and a new surgery area. In partnership with the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine and the Appalachian Osteopathic Post-Graduate Training School Consortium (A-OPTIC), Methodist operates an osteopathic family practice program.

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.