WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Jan. 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Banner Health, a member of the largest group purchasing organization in the U.S. (Premier, Inc.) contracted Private Eyes, Inc. to create a new hire screening process, which safely meets requirements and reduces hiring risk at a cost of $1 million less than Banner Health's former process. Today many systems have sights set on areas of non-supply spend such as purchased and/or shared services, which can account for 16 percent or more of operating expenses.
After Banner Health focused on purchased services cost savings with considerable success, the company turned its attention to a detailed process Banner developed for vetting and properly screening all prospective employees throughout the Integrated Delivery Network (IDN). Banner formed a multidisciplinary team to create four options for employment screenings, which ranged from complete outsourcing to continuing with their existing vendor. The option chosen was to outsource 82 percent of hiring screening to a Premier contracted supplier, Private Eyes, Inc.
"This project is another example of the 'we-don't-care-who-gets-the-credit' partnership that Banner Health and Premier have formed as they look for ways to reduce operating costs while maintaining or improving performance," said Jeff A. Buehrle, Vice president and Chief Financial officer for Banner Health's Arizona East Region. "This is a sensitive area, one that demands we do the job correctly, so we couldn't just make changes for the sake of driving savings without ensuring that all the new processes would do the job of screening potential employees at least as well as we had in our former process. Our Premier support team understood this and worked with us to build and test the new process and vendors so we were all convinced they could do the job without question. This is the kind or relationship an IDN should have with a performance improvement partner."
About Banner Health
Phoenix-based Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit healthcare systems in the country. The system owns or manages 23 acute-care hospitals as well as long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services located in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming. www.bannerhealth.com
About Private Eyes, Inc.
Since 1999, Private Eyes, Inc. has provided high quality employment screening services for clients who include high-level Fortune 500 companies. For more information contact Sandra James, CEO at (925) 927-3333 or visit www.privateeyesinc.com.
About Premier, Inc.
Premier, Inc. is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting more than 2,900 U.S. hospitals and nearly 100,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, supply chain solutions, advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Please visit Premier's news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com.