Edward Hospital joins Premier healthcare alliance and saves $1,053,000

Edward Hospital & Health Services has saved more than $1 million by joining the Premier healthcare alliance. The full-service, regional healthcare provider based in Naperville, Ill., is also participating in programs to provide high-quality, cost-effective care.

“We're impressed with Premier's performance improvement solutions and clinical assistance. The ASCEND program also continues to deliver savings and added value, especially when compared to our previous purchasing organization. We're happy to partner with Premier to ensure that we meet our clinical and supply chain efficiency goals.”

"Because it is owned by hospitals, Premier has a unique understanding of what is needed to help us address improvements in performance," said Pamela Davis, Edward president and CEO. "They fully support our goal of making every moment spent in one of our facilities as stress-free as possible by providing our patients with the highest quality of care."

In becoming a Premier owner, Edward has saved $1,053,000 to date by leveraging a national purchasing network that delivers industry leading contract pricing. Edward formerly used VHA Inc. as its national purchasing organization.

The not-for-profit provider is now using products, services and programs that have proven to significantly reduce costs and continuously identify opportunities for improvements in clinical quality and patient safety.

Since conversion, Edward has benefitted from Premier's ASCEND^® (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) program, designed to help participants achieve and sustain rapid improvements in supply chain performance and affordability. Edward has saved more than $344,000 with ASCEND. Last year, participants saved more than $23 million combined.

"Based on previous experience with Premier, we knew they would deliver savings," said Vince Pryor, Edward CFO. "We're impressed with Premier's performance improvement solutions and clinical assistance. The ASCEND program also continues to deliver savings and added value, especially when compared to our previous purchasing organization. We're happy to partner with Premier to ensure that we meet our clinical and supply chain efficiency goals."

Edward has access to Premier's clinical, financial and operational database, containing nearly 40 percent of all hospital discharges nationwide, to compare performance and collaborate with more than 2,400 hospitals.

Additionally, the hospital is taking advantage of Premier's distinctive ability to integrate clinical and supply chain data to identify savings opportunities and clinical improvements.

Edward will participate in Premier's QualityConnect™ program, which integrates clinical quality, safety and cost data in Premier's QualityAdvisor™ solution to help hospitals make better decisions in harm prevention, such as reducing hospital-acquired conditions. Program members saved more than $284 million last year through reductions in readmissions, length of stay, complications and mortalities.

Premier's SpendAdvisor^® MySpend™ program will help Edward analyze its total supply spend to identify savings opportunities and guide its purchasing decisions.

These programs combined have helped hospitals achieve significant savings by making clinically effective and cost-effective decisions.

Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier said, "To support Edward in improving overall community health, we are working with them to renovate their clinical practices and spending patterns so that they can improve outcomes and reduce costs across their system. Health reform has given providers a new opportunity to transform the way they deliver care and Edward is taking the necessary steps to do so."