Premier Healthcare Alliance Receives National Recognition for Environmental Excellence...

Premier Healthcare Alliance Receives National Recognition for Environmental Excellence for Sixth Consecutive Year

Premier Was First Healthcare Group Purchasing Organization to Earn
Prestigious Award
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(Business Wire)--
The Premier healthcare alliance today received the 2008 "Champion
for Change" award from Practice Greenhealth (PGH), formerly Hospitals
for a Healthy Environment, for its leadership in helping alliance
member hospitals and health systems promote environmentally friendly
practices.

The Champion for Change Award is given to organizations that
supply healthcare products and services that are considerate of the
earth and its resources. The winners of this award have achieved
success in greening their own organization and have also assisted
others who are committed to improving their environmental performance.
Forty-one Premier healthcare organizations were also honored by PGH
across eight categories.

Premier's commitment to sustainability is evidenced in the newly
named GreenHealthy(TM) program. GreenHealthy includes the Premier's
EPP (environmentally preferable purchasing) program, an internal
corporate-wide Yes to Green program, and a new collaborative climate
and energy initiative to help hospitals reduce energy use and cost
called SPHERE, Securing Proven Healthcare Energy Reduction (for the)
Ecosystem.

"Premier is pleased to be recognized by this prestigious award as
we continue to help our member hospitals and health systems adopt
environmentally sound business practices," said Rick Norling,
president and CEO, Premier. "This award firmly establishes Premier as
a leader in healthcare, setting the bar for industry commitment to
environmentally preferable purchasing and healthcare practices."

Premier's members have been very creative in finding ways to be
green, said Gina Pugliese, vice president, Premier Safety Institute.
"Premier's members are proactively taking environmentally friendly
actions, including composting of organic materials, recycling of floor
coverings, lab solvents, and construction waste, purchasing
organically grown foods, using foodware made of bio-based materials,
and increasing use of energy efficient LED lighting," Pugliese said.

The Champion for Change Award is presented annually by PGH, an
industry-wide collaborative effort, designed to enhance workplace and
environmental health and safety. Premier's Champion for Change Award
is a result of the combined efforts of Premier Purchasing Partners,
the Premier Safety Institute and Premier members and suppliers to
identify environmentally preferable products, packaging and services.
The awards will be presented today at the 2008 PGH Environmental
Excellence Awards ceremony in Pittsburgh.

A key award selection factor was the Premier Safety Institute's
suite of educational offerings - both for Premier member healthcare
institutions, as well as the greater industry. The Premier Safety
Institute, the nation's most recognized resource on hospital safety
issues, receives more than 5 million hits annually.

Safety Institute tools are available at www.premierinc.com/safety.
The Safety Institute provides Web-based tools and resources for
establishing green - or environmentally sound - programs and
practices. Green Corner, another Premier Web resource, showcases
hospital and supplier success stories about green initiatives that
contribute to a safer, healthier community.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that hospitals use
more than twice as much energy per square foot as office buildings and
as a group, consume almost 50 billion kilowatt hours of electricity
and spend almost $3 billion each year on electricity alone. If
hospitals improved their energy efficiency by an average of 30
percent, the annual electricity savings would be close to $1 billion,
and 11 million fewer tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted - the
equivalent of taking 2 million cars off the road.

In an effort to continue to address these critical energy issues,
Premier will be announcing a new collaborative to reduce healthcare's
carbon footprint. The new program, called SPHERE (Securing Proven
Healthcare Energy Reduction for the Ecosystem), will focus on reducing
energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the use of
cleaner, renewable energy.

2008 Premier Environmental Excellence Award winners include:

Champion for Change - Premier Inc., Charlotte, NC

System for Change - Covenant Health Systems, Lexington, MA

Environmental Leadership - Sequoia Hospital, Redwood City, CA

Making Medicine Mercury-Free - Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport, CT

Making Medicine Mercury-Free and Partner Recognition -

-- Euclid Hospital, Euclid, OH

-- Mary Immaculate Health Care Services, Lawrence, MA

-- St. Mary's Villa, Moscow, PA

Partner for Change -

-- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta

-- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia

-- Great River Medical Center, West Burlington, IA

-- Mercy General Hospital, Sacramento, CA

-- Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore

-- Montgomery General Hospital, Olney, MD

-- Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, CT

-- St. Bernardine Medical Center, San Bernardino, CA

-- St. Charles Mercy Hospital, Oregon, OH

-- St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Red Bluff, CA

-- St. John's Riverside Hospital, Yonkers, NY

-- St. Joseph Hospital, Nashua, NH

-- Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY

Partner for Change and Making Medicine Mercury-Free -

-- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland

-- Huron Hospital, East Cleveland, OH

-- St Andre Health Care, Biddeford, ME

-- St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital, Camarillo, CA

-- St. John's Regional Medical Center, Oxnard, CA

Partner Recognition -

-- Ashtabula County Medical Center, Ashtabula, OH

-- Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh

-- Fairview Hospital, Cleveland

-- Hillcrest Hospital, Mayfield Heights, OH

-- Lakewood Hospital, Lakewood, OH

-- Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, New London, CT

-- Lutheran Hospital, Cleveland

-- Maristhill Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Waltham, MA

-- Marymount Hospital, Garfield Heights, OH

-- Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Carmichael, CA

-- Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center, Reno, NV

-- South Pointe Hospital, Warrensville Heights, OH

-- St. Joseph Manor, Brockton, MA

-- St. Mary Health Care, Worcester, MA

Environmental Leadership Circle -

-- Dominican Hospital CHW, Santa Cruz, CA

-- Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, Fort Worth, TX

-- St. Joseph's Medical Center, Stockton, CA

About Practice Greenhealth

Practice Greenhealth is the result of the merger of two leading
organizations - Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) and the
Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC) - with a new clean energy and
energy efficiency program, Healthcare Clean Energy Exchange (HCEE).
For more information on Practice Greenhealth, healthy initiatives,
current trends, news and views, and other links to earth-friendly
organizations, visit www.practicegreenhealth.org.

About Premier, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
recipient

Serving more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 50,000 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.

Premier
Devorah Goldburg, 202-879-8004;
devorah_goldburg@premierinc.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008