CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mercy Health, Ohio's largest health system, has expanded its partnership with Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, to further advance population health management, with an increased focus on care for chronically-ill patients.
Serving more than 450 locations across Ohio and Kentucky, Mercy Health has assets of $6.1 billion and net operating revenue of $4.5 billion. Recently named one of 2015's Most Wired health systems, Mercy Health is Ohio's fourth largest employer, bringing together state-of-the-art technology and experts in over 100 specialties practicing at 23 hospitals. The mission-driven Catholic health system also includes a variety of housing sites for the elderly, home health agencies, hospice programs, wellness centers and other healthcare organizations.
A Premier member for more than 20 years, Mercy Health has one of the most extensive strategic partnerships with Premier, using the company's full suite of supply chain, business intelligence and performance improvement services. In the past four years alone, this strategic partnership generated a savings of more than $117 million, better outcomes and patient experiences through cost and quality efficiencies, as well as advances in population health.
"Nothing is more important to us than delivering high-quality, cost-effective care to the people we serve across Ohio and Kentucky," said Michael Connelly, president and CEO, Mercy Health. "Premier's solutions are important to helping us effectively share information across the continuum, identify opportunities for improvement and target specific interventions to populations in need. This long-standing partnership helps us make lives better and healthcare easier, which is our promise as a ministry."
In expanding its partnership to further improve population health management, Mercy Health has joined Premier's integrated pharmacy and care management program, which harnesses otherwise unavailable clinical data to drive better, more valuable care for complex patient populations, including the chronically ill.
Over the next five years, Mercy Health is expected to continue working in partnership with Premier to leverage group purchasing services for reduced expenses through the aggregation of data, purchasing and best practices; access industry-leading cloud-based SaaS analytics powered by Premier's performance improvement platform PremierConnect®; and benefit from Premier's advisory services to drive strategic improvements in continuum-wide care management, clinical integration and care quality optimization. Mercy Health is also expected to continue to share data and best practices with other alliance health systems as a member of Premier's quality improvement and population health collaboratives.
An established leader in technology innovation, Mercy Health was the first user of Premier's data warehouse and business intelligence solution, PremierConnect Enterprise. It was also the first member of the Data Alliance Collaborative, helping to co-develop solutions by sharing knowledge, data and resources with leading information technology and clinical experts to address unmet healthcare needs. In doing so, Mercy Health helped to create Premier's recently-launched CommunityFocus™ solution, which helps providers prioritize and predict population health improvement initiatives.
"Mercy Health is the prime example of what the Premier alliance can accomplish with a highly-engaged, strategic health system partner," said Michael J. Alkire, chief operating officer, Premier. "Together, we've worked to address industry issues hand-in-hand, co-innovating and building new solutions that curb costs, disrupt old practices and break data out of siloes. We are excited about the opportunities this partnership will pursue over the next five years and look forward to generating new innovations that benefit patients, families and communities."
Providing guidance to help the Premier alliance continue to transform the healthcare industry, Mercy Health has senior level representation on Premier's Quality Improvement and Value Improvement Committees, as well as Premier's Strategic Advisory Committee.
"A powerful force behind the success of the Premier alliance, Mercy Health is setting new standards in care delivery that are helping to improve outcomes and lower costs across the membership," said Susan DeVore, president and CEO, Premier. "They are a true asset in achieving our shared, continuous mission to improve the health of communities."
The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Mercy Health
Mercy Health (formerly Catholic Health Partners) is the largest health system in Ohio and one of the largest health systems in the United States, employing more than 32,000 employees in Ohio and Kentucky. With $6 billion in assets, Mercy Health operates about 450 health facilities, including 23 hospitals, eight senior living communities, five hospice programs and seven home health agencies. Mercy Health is consistently rated among the nation's top health systems for clinical quality and efficiency. In keeping with its mission, Mercy Health provides about $1 million per day in community benefit services. Mercy Health's bonds are rated AA- by Standard & Poor's and Fitch, and A1 by Moody's. Mercy Health also partners with HealthSpan which provides health maintenance organization and insurance coverage. Mercy Health is a founding member of Health Innovations Ohio, which focuses on providing health services that result in higher quality, better health and greater value. For more information, visit www.mercy.com or connect with Mercy Health on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter (@LivingMercyHlth).
About Premier, Inc.
Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,400 U.S. hospitals and 110,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, 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 for more information about the company.
Forward-looking statements
Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, such as Mercy Health's anticipated use of Premier's performance and supply chain services at expected levels, as discussed herein, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Premier to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include comments as to Premier's beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside Premier's control. More information on potential factors that could affect Premier's financial results is included from time to time in the "Forward Looking Statements," "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of Premier's periodic and current filings with the SEC and available on Premier's website at investors.premierinc.com. Forward looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise that occur after that date.
CONTACT: Morgan Guthrie, Premier, Inc.; 704.816.4152; Morgan_Guthrie@PremierInc.com