Premier in the news
Archive
– 2009 in the news
– 2008 in the news
– 2007 in the news
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Healthcare sector supporting chemical reform legislation; American Chronicle; 8/27/10:
Gina Pugliese, vice president of the Premier healthcare alliance's Safety Institute comments on chemical reform legislation, and what it could mean in terms of public health protection.
Full story
Successful infection control and automation: Strong links; Healthcare Informatics; 8/19/10:
Salah Qutaishat, Premier's director of surveillance and epidemiology, discusses Premier's QUEST initiative and efforts to reduce healthcare-acquired infections.
Full story
Tracking at a crossroads; Modern Healthcare; 8/16/10:
For the third year running, the supply-chain standards organization GS1
Healthcare-US recently held a small roundtable discussion dinner for
media, healthcare supply-chain professionals and suppliers during the
annual Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management
conference. Joe Pleasant, vice president and chief information officer
of the group purchasing organization Premier, said during the dinner
that his organization has been pushing for the involvement of Food and
Drug Administration and HHS officials in the adoption of universal
tracking standards so that providers, suppliers and health IT software
developers can move forward on sure footing with implementation.
Full story
Hospitals should plan now for value-based purchasing, which may be a game changer;
AIS Health; 8/11/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier, discusses how Premier's HQID program became the model for value-based purchasing and what hospitals can expect.
Full story
New collaboratives getting health systems ready for ACOs; Becker's Hospital Review; 8/9/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier, explains how Premier's new accountable care collaboratives are helping health systems get ready to launch accountable care organizations.
Full story
Premier's ACO collaborative: Interview with Katherine Schneider of AtlantiCare;
Becker's Hospital Review; 8/4/10:
Katherine Schneider, MD, vice president of health engagement at AtlantiCare in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., discusses her health system's role in Premier's new ACO Collaborative.
Full story
Premier comments on CMS IPPS rule; Inside Health Policy; 8/3/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier healthcare alliance, says the CMS rule is incorrect and inappropriately cuts payments to such a degree that patient care could be put at risk.
Full story
(subscription required)
Top 10 things hospitals need to know about health reform but were afraid to ask;
HFMA; 8/2/10:
Premier president and CEO, Susan DeVore, discusses the top 10 reforms that require immediate attention from hospital executives and providers.
Full story
Medicare: Inpatient hospital payments to decrease by $440 million under CMS;
The Bureau of National Affairs; 8/2/10:
AHA and the Premier healthcare alliance, say CMS failed to acknowledge independent studies that show the agency's methodology does not take into account that hospital patients are increasingly sicker.
Full story
(subscription required)
Pilots key to ACO implementation; Managed Healthcare Executive;
8/1/10: In May, the Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System began a
recruiting campaign to tempt private practice doctors to join the
accountable care organization (ACO) it founded in April. According to
The Detroit News, the health system sent 2,000 letters to private
practice doctors who have admitting privileges at its hospitals, hoping
to recruit them. Premier, a healthcare performance-improvement alliance,
is working on an even larger scale.
Full story
Reforms will reward efficient providers; Charlotte Business Journal; 7/30/10:
Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, discusses how the healthcare industry has become a vital piece of Charlotte's economy.
Full story
(subscription required)
Linet Americas eyes major growth from Charlotte; Charlotte Business Journal; 7/30/10:
John Biggers, group vice president of sourcing for Premier Purchasing Partners, discusses opportunities within the U.S. hospital bed market.
Full story
(subscription required)
Putting people first: Value-driven healthcare; Hospitals & Health Networks; 7/30/10:
Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier Consulting Solutions, discusses value-driven healthcare. He says few would disagree that something must be done to rein in healthcare costs, expand access, promote wellness and improve quality. ACOs present an exciting and fundamental shift in healthcare, a change that will touch virtually everyone providing, receiving or funding care.
Full story
5 tips on preparing to meet meaningful use regulations; Becker's Hospital Review; 7/26/10:
Randy Thomas, vice president of integrated product management and marketing for Premier healthcare alliance, says focusing on long-term benefits means getting your organization's leadership team on board with EMR for the long haul.
Full story
Irked by CMS rule quirk; Modern Healthcare; 7/26/10:
Randy Thomas, vice president of product strategy and planning for Premier, says as many as 50 of its hospital customers are affected by what many consider to be an exclusionary policy.
Full story
(subscription required)
Premier and others comment on implementation of new tax-exempt hospital requirements;
AHA News; 7/23/10: The
Premier healthcare alliance provided comments on Schedule H instructions pertaining to hospital tax-exempt status.
Full story
Former Geisinger Health plan CEO to head CMS 'value-based' policy efforts;
Inside Health Policy; 7/22/10:
Richard Gilfillan, the former president and CEO of Geisinger Health Plans, has accepted a job directing CMS' performance-based payment policy staff. In this position, Gilfillan will play a key role in the agency's implementation of the new health reform law's delivery system and value-based purchasing reforms. Gilfillan for the past six months has worked as a Geisinger consultant with the Premier Accountable Care Organization Collaborative, which includes 19 clinically integrated health systems that have formed ACOs in anticipation of the Medicare demonstrations that begin in 2012.
Full story
(subscription required)
Critics hammer feds at Congressional meaningful use hearing; Healthcare Finance News; 7/21/10:
Premier urges Congress to change how hospitals are defined for reimbursement purposes.
Full story
Alliance calls for fair allocation of government incentives; Healthcare Finance News; 7/21/10:
The Premier healthcare alliance submitted a statement Tuesday to the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health at a hearing on meaningful use.
Full story
Republicans attack new HIT 'meaningful use' rules, Premier urges changes too;
The Hill; 7/20/10:
The Premier healthcare alliance, a national provider network, warned Tuesday that a failure to change the rules could financially handicap some hospitals' ability to implement EHRs in a timely manner.
Full story
Health care law's accountable care groups attract
rare bipartisan favor; The Commonwealth Fund;
7/16/10: In some respects, the health care overhaul
law is getting a bad rap when critics in Congress
say it fails to address rising health care costs.
Not only does the law launch experiments to test
possible solutions to what everyone acknowledges is
a complex problem – it also gives the Health and Human
Services secretary the power to push a redesign of
how health care is delivered in the United States.
Case in point: the secretary's new authority to
contract widely starting in 2012 with entities
called "accountable care organizations."
Full story
Improve your purchasing power; Imaging Economics; 7/15/10:
Mike Georgulis, Premier's vice president of Strategic Sourcing, explains how Premier organizes member committees or task forces to evaluate products and services to be placed on contract.
Full story
Coalition presses FDA to issue regulation on unique device identifiers;
BNA; 7/14/10:
Premier healthcare alliance and others tell the FDA that a unique device identification (UDI) system for medical devices is needed. A letter has been sent to the FDA from a coalition that includes Premier.
Full story
Driving enterprise agility from the program management office;
agile journal; 7/12/10:
Understand how Premier's Program Management Office helps drive success. Kelley Horton, Director of Premier's Corporate IT Services Program Management Office helps explain the process.
Full story
Hospital groups, GPOs, call for unique device codes; Dotmed news; 7/12/10:
In a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the Advancing Patient Safety Coalition, a lobby that includes the American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association and Premier healthcare alliance, urged the agency to push forward with establishing a unique device identification system, as required by an act of Congress three years ago.
Full story
Healthcare GPO industry embarks on transparency
initiative; Healthcare Finance News; 7/9/10:
An organization promoting best practices in the healthcare group
purchasing industry has launched two initiatives to increase
transparency and strengthen oversight in an industry some have
criticized for its perceived secrecy. The Healthcare Group Purchasing
Industry Initiative, comprised of 13 national GPOs including Premier,
will form an independent advisory council and institute a formal
"supplier grievance process" to aid the resolution of supplier
complaints regarding a GPO's purchasing process.
Full story
Hospitals need to compare supply costs and utilization patterns; Healthcare Finance News; 7/8/10:
In Premier healthcare alliance’s ASCEND program, hospitals choose to commit a portion of their purchasing volume to access specially negotiated, best-price contracts for a range of products, minus physician preference items.
Full story
Lean-agile projects you will do again and again; agile journal;
7/7/10:
Kelley Horton, Director of Premier's Corporate IT Services Program Management Office, co-authors an article on Lean-Agile software development that brings projects to completion quickly, with less waste and complexity.
Full story
Obama set to name Berwick new CMS chief; Healthcare Finance News; 7/7/10:
After Berwick's nomination in April, several professional organizations applauded the choice, among them the Medical Group Management Association, Premier, the American Medical Association and the AARP.
Full story
Alternative to HMOs coordinates treatment delivery; Ohio.com; 7/5/10:
Two Northeast Ohio health systems are part of a push to create a new way of coordinating care for patients and getting paid for those services.
Summa Health System in Akron and University Hospitals in Cleveland are working with the Premier healthcare alliance to each develop an "accountable care organization," or ACO for short.
Full story
Cleaning up the product data quality mess; TechTarget; 7/2/10:
Premier, a Charlotte, N.C.-based healthcare alliance who helps healthcare providers reduce supply chain costs, chose to create a product data master using
master data management (MDM) techniques, but save the larger MDM plans for later.
Full story
ACO conundrum: Everybody wants in the game, but nobody
knows the rules; AIS's Health Business Daily; 7/1/10:
In order to prepare for ACOs, Premier, a national hospital alliance, is "gearing up our hospitals so that they'll be prepared to deal with a Medicare pilot rate (for ACOs) across their entire population," said President and CEO Susan DeVore. She explained that if Medicare builds ACO models, then Medicaid and commercial payers will follow.
Full story
Medical groups back Medicare nominee Berwick; The Hill;
6/30/10: Premier healthcare alliance, an enormous provider network, this week threw its considerable weight behind President Obama's
pick to head Medicare, arguing that Donald Berwick is "the ideal
candidate" to lead the agency and should be approved "as soon as
possible."
Full story
Hospitals upset by IPPS 'coding creep' offset, quality measure plan;
Inside Health Policy; 6/25/10:
CMS' current strategy for hospital quality reporting will likely be trumped by provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, says Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier.
Full story
(subscription required)
A brave new world of connectivity;
Healthcare Informatics; 6/25/10:
In part two of a special report, Keith Figlioli, senior vice president of healthcare informatics at Premier discusses the company's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Collaboratives program and Premier's active role in policy reform.
Full story
Hand hygiene compliance boosted by culture of safety, accountability;
Infection Control Today; 6/22/10:
Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute, discusses how to boost hand hygiene compliance rates in healthcare institutions.
Full story
Health alliances address pandemics and the medical supply chain; Infection Control Today; 6/22/10:
Amy Denny, vice president of contract management for the Premier healthcare alliance discusses how Premier is ready to help hospitals and health systems with supplies and products to fight H1N1.
Full story
Hospital groups show support for Medicare agency nominee Berwick;
The
Hill; 6/21/10: The nation's largest hospital groups – including Premier – wrote to the leading
Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance and Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committees on Monday to reiterate their
support for President Barack Obama's nominee to head the agency that
oversees Medicare. The two panels are expected to hold hearings on
Donald Berwick's nomination in the weeks ahead, a hospital source said,
and the groups wanted to be on record with their support before then.
Full story
Premier conference wrap-up; Healthcare Informatics; 6/15/10:
The weeklong Premier Breakthroughs Conference put a spotlight on the efforts of hospital clinical data analysts to drive quality improvements through measurement and collaboration with physician-led process improvement teams.
Full story
Unintended consequences of EHR on quality reporting; Healthcare Informatics; 6/14/10:
At the Premier Breakthroughs Conference clinical quality leaders from Texas Health Resources described the unintended consequences of its Epic implementation on reporting core measures.
Full story
A brave new world of connectivity; Healthcare Informatics; 6/14/10:
Keith Figlioli, senior vice president, Healthcare Informatics with Premier, discusses a strategic plan to enhance Premier's informatics products and services.
Full story
CMS urged to adopt 'all payer' ACO model; Inside Health Policy; 6/11/10:
The hope is that the private groups and the Premier ACO collaborative, will be able to develop the delivery system reforms as the Medicare provisions are implemented.
Full story
(subscription required)
Palomar Pomerado Health receives award for quality; Palomar Pomerado Health; 6/11/10:
Palomar Pomerado Health and Palomar Medical Center are the recipients of the Premier Award for Quality by the Premier healthcare alliance.
Full story
Cover story: 2010 influenza survey: ready or not?; Materials Management in Health
Care; 6/10/10:
"We heard formally and informally from CDC and NIOSH about the importance of monitoring and regularly showing a good faith effort to keep up inventory checks once they went into a prioritization program," explains Judene Bartley, MS, MPH, CIC, vice president of Epidemiology Consulting Services in Beverly Hills, Mich. "This was to ensure that enough N95s would be available for high-risk procedures." Bartley also is a consultant with the Premier Safety Institute.
Full story
Cover story: Good fit? Reform links payment to quality; Hospitals & Health Networks; 6/9/10:
Hospitals are likely to be continuously challenged by changes in the
value-based purchasing (VBP) measures, says Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs for Premier healthcare alliance. "New measures will be piloted by CMS in the Hospital Compare website and moved into VBP, so keep focused on the Hospital Compare measures," he advises. But because VBP is a zero-sum game, hospitals will have to compete to maintain full payment.
Full story
Premier recognizes top hospitals for quality, efficient care; Healthcare Finance News; 6/9/10:
The Premier healthcare alliance bestowed 21 of the nation's top hospitals and three health systems for their commitment to outstanding patient care and operational efficiency with the 2010 Premier Award for Quality at an award dinner Wednesday night in Washington, DC.
Full story
Careful – there's a baby in that bathwater; Hospitals & Health Networks; 6/3/10:
From the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's efforts to the partnership of Medicare with Premier on pay-for-performance to the release of massive amounts of quality data on both private and government websites, we seem to be ever more committed to making care better.
Full story
Leading through challenges and change; The Charlotte Observer; 5/30/10:
A year into her role as chief executive officer of the Premier healthcare alliance, Susan DeVore is grappling with some of the biggest issues of her career. There are the sweeping changes to the healthcare sector. Growing worries over the health of communities. A turbulent economy, and the challenge of leading a company through it all.
Full story
CaroMont to implement new healthcare system; Freedom - Gaston Gazette; 5/21/10:
CaroMont will launch Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Gaston County and the surrounding region. The new system measures success by the overall health of the community.
Full story
Baystate Health nationally recognized for its commitment to patient care;
senate.gov; 5/20/10:
BayState Health is recognized in Washington as part of the Premier healthcare alliance's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) national collaborative.
Full story
SSM Health Care joins group that will focus on creating healthier communities;
stltoday.com; 5/20/10:
SSM Health Care is participating in the initiative because the future will be focused on keeping people healthy. SSM joined the Premier Accountable Care Organization Collaborative and has identified its St. Louis market as the pilot site.
Full story
Charlotte Chamber hosts healthcare summit; News 14 Carolina; 5/18/10:
Susan Devore, president and CEO of Premier, tells business leaders that the healthcare overhaul is a framework to help make the health of our populations better. DeVore says it will be a long term project.
Full story
Being held accountable; Modern Healthcare; 5/17/10:
At least 16 health systems are expected to announce this week plans to separately launch Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) through an initiative with Premier. Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier Consulting Solutions, said he believes the private-market push ahead of federal regulations represents a huge opportunity to influence federal policy.
Full story
(subscription required)
Sustainable buildings; Modern Healthcare; 5/17/10:
Gina Pugliese, vice president of the Premier healthcare alliance's Safety Institute, explains that, if LEED for
Healthcare doesn't address PBTs, it may backtrack the progress made in getting these toxins out of the environment.
Full story
(subscription required)
Heartland Health cuts costs with Premier; Materials Management
in Health Care; 5/13/10:
Heartland worked with Premier to refine its processes, streamlining everything from its patient throughput to space tracking in the cath labs. Premier tools helped Heartland maximize contract utilization and track metrics like supply expenses per adjusted patient days. Benchmarking labor standards and reviewing spend processes led to savings of $1.5 million in the first year.
Full story
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Collaboration power; Healthcare IT News; 5/13/10:
William Spooner, senior vice president and chief information officer of Sharp HealthCare and chair of the Premier HIT Collaborative
and Keith Figlioli, senior vice president of Healthcare Informatics for Premier, discuss meaningful use, health information technology standards, and certification criteria.
Full story
Supply chain costs in the crosshairs; Healthcare Finance News; 5/11/10:
Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners, says most hospitals are accustomed to budgeting supply expenses for the year, but cost forecasting models may be needed more frequently.
Full story
Premier plans $86M IT upgrade; Charlotte Business Journal;
5/7/10:
Premier will spend $86 million during the next three years to revamp its technology infrastructure. Premier
plans to enhance its product lines and develop new capabilities.
Full story
(subscription required)
CDC, Premier test effectiveness of infection prevention tool; HealthLeaders Media; 5/4/10:
A joint research initiative to test new technologies for predicting incidents of central line associated bloodstream infections will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Premier healthcare alliance. The reporting of these adverse events will be automatically sent to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network.
Full story
Effort to study central-line infection; Health Data Management; 5/3/10:
Premier healthcare alliance and the CDC will analyze specific traits of positive blood cultures across a subset of Premier's 2,300 member hospitals to develop an automated electronic surveillance tool to predict the presence of such infections. Researchers at Stroger (Cook County) Hospital in Chicago will evaluate the effectiveness of the tool in a real-world setting.
Full story
Plugging the gaps; Healthcare Purchasing News; 4/28/10:
Gina Pugliese, R.N., MS, vice president of Premier Safety Institute, explains that clinicians must be aware of new practices and products that may contribute to patient safety and quality care, including reducing risks of infection.
Full story
A welcome boost; Modern Healthcare; 4/26/10: Blair Childs,
senior vice president with Premier, discusses the proposed CMS budget and
the impact on medical-device makers.
Full story (subscription required)
Cover story: When less is more; The Journal of Healthcare
Contracting; 3/10-4/10 issue: This cover story features insights
from representatives of the Catholic Contracting Group (CCG) and Premier
discussing the creation of the CCG and the value it brings.
Full story (.pdf)
Panelists plan to seek reimbursement fixes; Modern Healthcare; 4/20/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs for Premier, explains that disproportionate-share hospital reimbursement and Medicare physician payment are areas that will need tweaking as we move along toward reform implementation.
Full story
Backlash against move to penalize hospitals on readmissions; Crain's New York
Business; 4/20/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs for Premier, says new penalties are a potentially very dangerous policy.
Full story
(subscription required)
Health leaders respond to Berwick's nomination to lead CMS; HealthLeaders Media; 4/20/10:
Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier healthcare alliance says Premier believes Berwick has the vision and experience to overcome the challenges ahead to drive improvements in pragmatic, effective ways.
Full story
CMS proposes cutting inpatient payments; HealthLeaders Media; 4/20/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs for Premier healthcare alliance, says Premier is extremely concerned by CMS' decision to require hospital quality reporting through registries, which are typically based on proprietary measures provided to hospitals on a fee for service basis.
Full story
Premier targets electronics recycling; Charlotte Business Journal; 4/16/10:
Premier healthcare alliance has joined a group of companies and organizations committed to recycling electronic goods.
Full story
Cover story: comparative effectiveness; Materials Management in Healthcare; 4/16/10:
Today's dearth of clinical outcomes information means manufacturers can charge a premium for their products, says Blair Childs, senior vice president for public affairs at hospital alliance Premier. Comparative effectiveness findings will bridge the gap between a product's claimed clinical benefit and actual value, notes Stitt, who is president-elect of the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management.
Full story
Premier adds analysis software solution; Materials Management in Healthcare; 4/16/10:
ValueConnect, offered by Premier Inc., Charlotte, N.C., interconnects supply-chain, finance and clinical staff, says Bill Marquardt, a Premier product-development executive. The platform supports value-analysis standardization through automated workflow management, results tracking and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.
Full story
Charlotte medical-device firms fear new tax will stall growth; Charlotte Business Journal; 4/14/10:
Hospitals could feel an impact as well, says Blair Childs, senior vice
president of public affairs at Premier. Hospitals are already
contributing to healthcare reform through Medicare cuts, Childs adds.
But "the pressure will be on those companies to find savings elsewhere,"
he says. "Ultimately, we really have to do everything we can. Hospitals
have small margins."
Full story
Healthcare passed: now what?; Fox Business Network; 4/13/10:
"The transition period's the toughest, right, because you've got one foot in both camps. You're still being paid on volume and the incentives aren't aligned and you have this legislation that gives you a roadmap to do it a different way," said Susan DeVore, President of Premier Inc., a cost-reduction consulting business for hospitals.
"While you're in the middle, they're cutting your payments."
Full story
Incorporating Joint Commission OPPE into a hospital-wide quality improvement program;
HealthLeaders Media; 4/9/10:
Richard Bankowitz, chief medical officer at Premier, describes the Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE) program. It features six core areas measuring a practitioner's clinical and behavioral competence. Evaluation is expected to be on a regular basis, such as every two, four or six months.
Full story
Working together on meaningful use; Healthcare Informatics; 4/7/10:
CIOs from more than 160 Premier member hospitals have been working together to develop collaborative strategies around HITECH.
Full story
Journal focuses on EHR, MU issues; Health Data Management; 4/6/10:
A series of reports in the April issue of Health Affairs examine the trek toward meaningful use of electronic health records systems a year after enactment of the HITECH Act. Among them, Premier's meaningful use best practices library. The library includes specific instructions on ways to speed implementation of computerized physician order entry and medication management.
Full story
10 issues new CMS administrator will face; HealthLeaders Media; 4/5/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier, discusses issues that a new leader of CMS will need to tackle and how to help rebuild CMS' reputation.
Full story
Answers not supplied; Modern Healthcare; 3/29/10:
Now that the on switch has been flipped, medical-product suppliers and purchasers are waiting to see how the newly minted healthcare-reform machine performs and what effects it will have on their businesses. Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier, says changes will be challenging.
Full story
(subscription required)
The five keys to health reform's success or failure; Time; 3/25/10:
"What is clear to me is that we cannot fix the problem by adding 32 million people to the mix and not changing the way we deliver care," says Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier. DeVore is quoted in Time magazine.
Full story
Is health reform a disaster or opportunity for hospitals?; HealthLeaders Media; 3/24/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier, discusses accountable care organizations and says hospitals are going to have to realign their physicians on quality and cost issues, and on efforts to reduce hospital-acquired infections.
Full story
Premier and other health leaders react to House passing health reform;
HealthLeaders Media; 3/22/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president with Premier says, "While there are many initiatives our alliance members can undertake on their own to improve the quality, safety, and affordability of community healthcare, we needed this government action to fix perverse Medicare payment incentives. Delivery system reforms, such as the expansion of hospital value-based purchasing, creation of Medicare-based Accountable Care Organizations that also allow CMS to join ACOs in the private market, and national pilots to test the effectiveness of bundled payments, will go far to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of healthcare."
Full story
Different health sectors offer divergent paths to fixing healthcare
system; The Bureau of National Affairs; 3/15/10: What will come
out of reform legislation is incremental, it will be pilots and
demonstrations, and we're in it for another five, 10, 15, 20 years to really
try to fix the system, says Premier president and CEO Susan DeVore. "The
challenge we have is that we actually are running out of time. The economics
won't last for 10, 15, 20 years so we have to fix this more quickly."
Full story (subscription required)
Creative payment reform initiatives abound nationwide; Healthcare
Finance News; 3/12/10: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid and
Premier healthcare alliance have collaborated on the Hospital Quality
Incentive Demonstration. CMS extended the project to test the effectiveness
of new incentive models and find innovative ways to improve patient care.
Full story
Outlook on medical supply prices; Materials Management in Health
Care; 3/12/10: Costs will rise in categories such as isotopes, latex
products and radio-frequency identification technology, according to the
latest price forecast from Premier.
Full story
Premier submits comments on proposed EHR meaningful use rule;
Healthcare Purchasing News; 3/11/10: Premier strongly cautions that
it will be impossible for a substantial number of eligible providers to
qualify for EHR incentives in the first stage of implementation.
Full story
Premier: MU criteria too much too soon; Health Data Management;
3/11/10: Premier feels proposed rule setting criteria for incentive
payments for meaningful use of electronic health records is too ambitious.
Full story
Healthcare is the great hope for job creation; HFMA; 3/11/10:
Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners, says to bolster U.S.
manufacturing, particularly for healthcare goods, we need to reclaim jobs
that have been shipped overseas.
Full story
Premier and widow of NBC's David Bloom raise awareness about DVT;
News 14 Carolina; 3/9/10: Melanie Bloom visits Premier to discuss
deep vein thrombosis and efforts to educate patients and healthcare workers
about prevention.
Full story
Franchises are still a popular choice for hospital food service;
Modern Healthcare; 3/8/10: Hospitals are attracted to franchise food
operations because outsourcing food services to established brand owners
makes employees happy and removes a significant amount of ancillary
responsibilities says Bob Juerjens, senior director of program development
for Premier.
Full story (subscription required)
Geisinger executive discusses Global Location Number Sunrise;
Modern Healthcare; 3/8/10: Deborah Templeton, vice president of
supply-chain services for Geisinger Health System, says there's still time
to prepare hospitals for Global Location Number Sunrise. The healthcare
industry is reaching the first milestone in this effort that will inaugurate
consistent, global standards to reduce costs, improve operations and better
serve patients.
Full story (subscription required)
How technology can help drive collaborative performance improvement;
HFMA; 3/5/10: Richard Bankowitz, MD, chief medical officer with
Premier, explains that the popularity of peer-to-peer quality and cost
improvement collaborative projects are increasing. One reason is that
providers realize collaborative learning works.
Full story (.pdf)
Premier CEO critiques fragmented healthcare system; Healthcare IT
News; 3/4/10: Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, says
current models of care lead to waste and overuse. "This is the year we have
to make a difference, but my biggest fear is that we're going to spend
millions of dollars on IT and end up with a great big data dump."
Full story
CEO offers 'view from the top' on need for data-driven healthcare;
Medical Device Daily; 3/3/10: Susan DeVore, CEO of Premier, tells
healthcare leaders if you pay a hospital for its success then the quality of
care will essentially go up. DeVore also says there has been tremendous
progress in leveraging data to target healthcare waste.
Full story
The missing links between supply chain data, EHR/EMR software;
Healthcare Purchasing News; 3/2/10: Keith Figlioli, senior vice
president, healthcare informatics with Premier, emphasizes that supply chain
managers shouldn't see their data as supply chain-related but in terms of
patient data for a more useful perspective.
Full story
Eight health leaders respond to Obama's healthcare summit;
HealthLeaders Media; 2/26/10: Blair Childs, senior vice president
with Premier, says hospital value-based purchasing and a national pilot to
test the effectiveness of bundled payments, need to be included in any final
reform bill.
Full story
Scored health reform pay-fors seen as attractive cash cows to cut
deficit; Inside Health Policy; 2/19/10: Premier's CEO, Susan
DeVore, is interviewed about proposed CMS payment cuts and various fees and
taxes that would have paid for healthcare reform.
Full story (subscription required)
A QUEST to improve healthcare cost and quality; HealthLeaders Media;
2/5/10: Premier's QUEST initiative helps hospitals to do what they have
trouble doing alone by establishing a framework and data center that allows
hospitals to compare themselves against each other.
Full story
Interview with Keith Figlioli, senior vice president of Premier
Healthcare Informatics; Healthcare IT News; 2/3/10: Keith
Figlioli discusses what hospitals may look like ten years from now and what
hospital executives need to know about driving performance.
Full story
Trends in reimbursement reform; Healthcare Informatics; 2/2/10:
Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs with Premier, says
hospitals are going to have to deal with substantial changes in the way
they're paid. The system will transition from one based on volume to one
partially paid on value.
Full story
Trend: Data infrastructure; Healthcare Informatics; 2/2/10:
Keith Figlioli, senior vice president with Premier says vendors will
inevitably have to move towards more open data platforms, as hospital
organizations go through mergers, connect disparate systems, and become
involved in HIE initiatives.
Full story
13 health leaders respond to Obama's State of the Union address;
HealthLeaders Media; 1/28/10: Health officials with a variety of
perspectives on health reform provide their comments on what Obama did say,
didn't say, or should have said about health reform. Blair Childs, senior
vice president with Premier, is among those quoted.
Full story
Armed, shielded to evade danger from microbial foes; Healthcare
Purchasing News; 1/27/10: The Premier healthcare alliance has a
variety of H1N1 resources posted on its Safety Institute Web site with links
to the CDC's interim guidance and OSHA's revised enforcement policy and
other helpful information.
Full story
Tariffs on Chinese medical products could pose problems for supply
chain; Materials Management in Health Care; 1/10 issue: "Health
care companies in the United States have a moral imperative by virtue of the
business they are in and the patients that depend on them to ensure a ready
and available supply of their products. Outsourcing exclusively to China for
the sake of the profit and loss statement simply doesn't pass muster,"
writes Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners.
Full story
Will supply chain industry meet or postpone approaching deadlines?;
Healthcare Purchasing News; 1/26/10: Even though the FDA has begun
to determine data elements to attach to medical devices for identification
and the necessary data fields, by and large, have worked with either GS1 or
HIBCC formats, Joe Pleasant of Premier Inc. said he "would be surprised if
the FDA required only one [standard]. They will show both as acceptable."
Full
story
New GS1 product identification standard – foundational for patient safety
and supply chain improvements; GSI Healthcare; 1/21/10: "Implementing this
standard will ensure that medical products can be unambiguously identified
by anyone in the healthcare supply chain," said Joe Pleasant, chief information
officer, Premier Inc. and member of the Global Leadership Team
of GS1 Healthcare. "The healthcare sector must now leverage technology
advances to create a more efficient and effective supply chain, bringing us
one step closer to an efficient supply chain like those seen in other
industries."
Full story
Premier joins in Haiti relief effort; Healthcare Purchasing News;
1/18/10: Premier and the Greater New York Hospital Association are
working with Partners in Health and the Afya Foundation, disaster relief
organizations, collecting money and medical supplies for use in Haitian
relief efforts.
Full story
Record-breaking NYC response to Haiti disaster; Crain's New York
Business; 1/15/10: Medical supplies are needed, and the Greater New
York Hospital Association and its national group purchasing partner,
Premier, have coordinated efforts with the Yonkers-based Afya Foundation, a
clearinghouse for medical supplies provided to voluntary physician groups.
Full
story
Health reform pilot projects look to transform healthcare; HealthLeaders
Media; 1/15/10: In one of the projects – known as the Premier Hospital Quality
Incentive Demonstration Project – 250 hospitals in 33 states were evaluated, and it was
determined that "transparency plus payment incentives works," says Blair
Childs, senior vice president of public affairs for the Premier healthcare alliance, a sponsor of the program. "How can you be against testing ideas?"
Childs asked. "That's only way we're going to make healthcare work."
Full story
MedPAC payment recommendations receive cautious OK from hospitals;
Healthcare Finance News; 1/15/10: "MedPAC estimates that Medicare
reimbursements are nearly 6 percent below cost, and a full market basket
update is a minimum step required to ensure the continued patient access to
non-profit hospitals," says Blair Childs, senior vice president of public
affairs for Premier.
Full story
New MedPAC hospital, physician payment updates a mixed bag for
providers; HealthLeaders Media; 1/15/10: The Premier healthcare
alliance supports MedPAC's recommendations for a full marketbasket update.
Premier says such a recommendation signals to Congress that flat reductions
in payment are imprudent.
Full story
Premier offers Congress its ideas for healthcare reform; Healthcare
Finance News; 1/13/10: Premier tells Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that the organization supports
healthcare reform. Premier also offered several recommendations regarding
aspects of the two healthcare reform bills now before Congress.
Full story
Premier: Keep device ID in reform bill; Health Data Management;
1/13/10: In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Premier strongly
supports House-passed language to create a unique device identification
system for medical devices.
Full story
Premier's QUEST hospitals 'move the dots' to save lives; Healthcare
IT News; 1/11/10: QUEST hospitals track five measures to help drive
performance, says Richard Bankowitz, MD, Premier's chief medical officer.
The intent, says Bankowitz, is to boost performance and save money by
"sharing knowledge and sharing data."
Full story
Leftover medical supplies put to use abroad; NPR; 1/11/10:
Don Hancock, a vice president with Premier, says supplies can become
outdated before hospitals get a chance to use them. There are opportunities
to donate unused supplies to others who need them.
Full story
Small changes help Premier's QUEST hospitals save $577M; Healthcare
Finance News; 1/11/10: Everyone in healthcare is looking to "bend
the cost curve." Hospital executives taking part in the Premier healthcare
alliance's QUEST program say they're doing so by making small changes – to
the tune of $577 million last year in savings.
Full story
Hospitals brace for challenges in 2010; Healthcare Finance News;
1/8/10: "As access to care is increased in 2010, all of our hospitals
are focused on managing with a much tighter revenue stream and providing
care to a larger number of patients," says Susan DeVore, president of
Premier healthcare alliance.
Full story
Series to help doctors care for seniors; Redlands (CA) Daily Facts;
1/7/10: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has put together
a video that explains the importance of physician hand-washing between
seeing patients. The Premier Safety Institute will provide free DVD copies
of "Hand Hygiene Saves Lives" to any hospital that requests it from its
Safety Store Web site.
Full story
Results from the first 4 years of pay-for-performance; Healthcare
Financial Management Association; 1/8/10: Susan DeVore, president
and CEO of Premier, explains that results from the nation’s largest
hospital-based pay-for-performance project suggest that value-based
purchasing could be an ideal model for healthcare payment reform.
Full story (.pdf)
National healthcare group purchasing industry likely to top $2 billion
in revenues; PR Web; 1/5/10: There are currently seven large GPOs
providing national group purchasing services in the United States. Premier,
one of the largest GPOs in the country, returned nearly 70 percent of fees
they receive from vendors to their hospital owners.
Full story
Drugs and devices: time for innovation; Modern Healthcare;
1/4/10: If 2009 was the year of big and radical ideas in healthcare,
2010 will likely be the year that details are implemented. On the imaging
front, the production of medical isotopes, a nuclear reactor byproduct used
in imaging procedures, will continue to be a problem, says Mike Alkire,
president of Premier Purchasing Partners.
Full story
Show us the evidence; Healthcare Informatics; 1/4/10: With
a solid IT foundation in place, hospitals are leveraging data to establish
new clinical guidelines and change the face of patient care. Richard
Bankowitz, M.D., vice president and medical director at Premier is
interviewed on this topic in the cover story for Healthcare Informatics.
Full story
Charlotte's top newsmakers of 2009; Charlotte Business Journal;
1/1/10: Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, is one of
Charlotte's top newsmakers in 2009.
Full story (subscription required to see full article)
Under the gun of H1N1; Healthcare Purchasing News; 1/1/10:
"The CDC, HHS, and WHO gave as much warning as possible once they learned of
the Mexico experience and have kept up information flow, sometimes daily,"
says Gina Pugliese, R.N., vice president, of Premier Safety Institute.
Full story