CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

WakeMed Health & Hospitals, a community health system founded and based in Raleigh, N.C., has partnered with Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a healthcare improvement company, to utilize a customized suite of enterprise-wide performance improvement tools, supply chain services and analytics offerings that will support its efforts to deliver high-value care across its network of facilities.

The largest health system in Wake County, the 919-bed WakeMed system includes three full-service hospitals and employs more than 1,100 physicians. WakeMed will access Premier’s group purchasing services, as well as robust clinical and financial outcomes data and analytics from the PremierConnect^® performance improvement platform. These offerings complement WakeMed’s access to Premier’s clinical surveillance solution, powered by TheraDoc®.

“Working with Premier, we expect to achieve an even deeper, data-driven understanding of our quality and outcomes improvement efforts, as well as our clinically integrated supply chain approach,” said Donald Gintzig, president and CEO of WakeMed. “We believe Premier is a good fit for WakeMed as we continue on our value journey. Premier provides a robust suite of resources that includes analytics, benchmarking and enabling technologies in the areas of supply chain, pharmacy and clinical quality management and more. We also look forward to opportunities to collaborate, share knowledge and network with other academic health systems. We are looking forward to leveraging these resources to accelerate care transformation.”

Leveraging Premier’s performance improvement and supply chain services, WakeMed will be able to safely drive reductions in the cost of care; examine care delivery utilization and variation patterns; compare outcomes against peers; understand and optimize performance under value-based purchasing; and prioritize improvement areas for next generation care delivery.

“We are excited to be building on our partnership with a local health system that is committed to providing exceptional, cost-effective and safe care,” said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier. “We look forward to working with WakeMed on data-driven clinical integration and improvement efforts that advance our aligned missions to improve the health of our community.”

WakeMed is a member of America’s Essential Hospitals, which represents more than 300 hospitals dedicated to caring for the vulnerable and training the nation’s healthcare workforce. Premier has an exclusive partnership with America’s Essential Hospitals to drive new advances in care quality, costs and population health at essential hospitals.

The financial terms of the enterprise-wide agreement were not disclosed. The partnership is not expected to materially impact Premier’s fiscal 2018 financial results.

About Premier Inc.

Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,900 U.S. hospitals and health systems and approximately 150,000 other providers and organizations. 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; as well as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Premier’s blog for more information about the company.

About WakeMed Health & Hospitals

Serving the community since 1961, WakeMed Health & Hospitals is a nationally recognized, private, not-for-profit health care organization founded and based in Raleigh, N.C. The largest health system in Wake County, WakeMed exists to improve the health and well-being of our community by providing outstanding, compassionate, patient- and family-centered care to all. The 919-bed system comprises a network of facilities throughout the Triangle area, delivering health and wellness services that bring added value to the communities we serve. WakeMed is a leader in cardiac and vascular care, women’s and children’s services, emergency medicine and trauma care, physical rehabilitation, orthopaedics and neurosciences. Specialty facilities include the WakeMed Heart Center, Children’s Hospital, Women’s Pavilion and Birthplace, Women’s Hospital at WakeMed North, WakeMed Rehabilitation Hospital, Adult and Children’s Emergency Departments and a Level 1 Trauma Center. WakeMed’s team of more than 9,100 employees, 1,500 volunteers, 1,200 affiliated physicians, and the more than 300 physicians employed by WakeMed Physician Practices use the most advanced technologies along with the best minds and the biggest hearts to ensure the finest quality in health care and community health. For more information, visit www.wakemed.org.

Forward-looking statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, such as WakeMed’s anticipated use of Premier’s supply chain and performance 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.

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