University of Tennessee Medical Center Expands Affiliation with Premier Healthcare...

University of Tennessee Medical Center Expands Affiliation with Premier Healthcare Alliance; 6-Month Savings Top $1M

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(Business Wire)--
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.

Premier Inc.
Alven Weil, 704-733-5797
alven_weil@premierinc.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008