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University of Tennessee Medical Center Expands Affiliation With Premier Healthcare Alliance

Posted on: Friday, 5 September 2008, 15:00 CDT

The University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville has expanded its relationship with the Premier healthcare alliance, selecting Premier as its supply chain performance partner and realizing savings of more than $1 million in the first six months of conversion.

Formerly with Novation, UTMC is now one of 200 of the nation's leading hospital and healthcare systems who own Premier Inc. as shareholders, working with the healthcare alliance to advance its mission of improving the quality of life of those it serves by leadership in patient care, health education and clinical research.

Serving Eastern Tennessee, Southeast Kentucky and Western North Carolina, the 581-bed, not-for-profit academic medical center has used Premier's Quality Manager, formerly CareScience, for more than four years to collect, aggregate, and analyze Joint Commission/CMS Core Measure data, identify areas for clinical outcomes improvement, and implement process changes that directly impact patient care.

UTMC CFO Tom Fisher said, "We have converted to Premier contracts and have already experienced savings of more than $1 million in the first six months. Our initial interest in Premier came through our relationship with Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) in Johnson City, Tenn. We are impressed with Premier's track record of partnering with hospital and healthcare systems like Mountain States to help them significantly improve financial performance.

"We also like Premier's local field support, and are particularly impressed with Premier technology solutions and comparative data, which we think are far more advanced than its competitors," Fisher said. UTMC is now using Premier's SpendAdvisor spend-management decision support tool, replacing the Advisory Board's Spend Compass.

Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire said, "Premier is committed to helping UTMC drive significant savings by introducing not only our industry-leading supplier contracts, but also our innovative enabling technology and the power of our proven spend analytics tools. We are fully committed to helping UTMC improve quality while safely reducing costs. We look forward to exceeding their high expectations."

UTMC is also affiliated with the Synergy Health Group, which is comprised of 22 Premier hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia dedicated to maximizing cost saving opportunities by aggregating their buying power. Initiated by MSHA, Synergy Health Group allows members to share best practices and to create strong healthcare services for residents they serve.

About The University of Tennessee Medical Center

The University of Tennessee Medical Center is a 581-bed, not-for-profit academic medical center, which serves as a referral center for Eastern Tennessee, Southeast Kentucky and Western North Carolina. The medical center, the region's only Level I Trauma Center, is one of the largest employers in Knoxville. Committed to improving the quality of life of patients through leadership in healthcare, health education and clinical research, UT Medical Center is the only academic hospital in the Knoxville area. The Medical Center collaborates with the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and other academic endeavors. For more information, visit www.utmedicalcenter.org.

About Premier Inc., 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Serving more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 53,000-plus other healthcare sites, the Premier healthcare alliance and its members are transforming healthcare together. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates one of the leading healthcare purchasing networks and the nation's most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information. A subsidiary operates one of the nation's largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups. A world leader in helping healthcare providers deliver dramatic improvements in care, Premier is working with the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

Source: Business Wire

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