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

Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, is the first to be named the best Overall Healthcare Management Consulting Firm by KLAS, an industry-trusted research and insights firm.

In the 2017 Best in KLAS: Software & Services report, Premier was ranked the top performer across five categories, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for the first time and Value-Based Care Consulting for the second year in a row. KLAS ranks organizations and their solutions, according to input from the professionals who use them, by those with the broadest operational and clinical impacts on healthcare organizations. Premier is one of only two companies to earn a Best in KLAS title in five or more segments this year for the following capabilities.

• Best in KLAS – Software
  • Enterprise Resource Planning *first category win
• Best in KLAS – Overall Firm
  • Overall Healthcare Management Consulting Firm *new category
• Best in KLAS – Services
  • Value-Based Care Consulting *second consecutive year
  • Financial Improvement Consulting *new category
  • Strategy, Growth and Consolidation Consulting *new category

“Premier is honored to be recognized for providing valuable solutions and services to healthcare organizations as we work with them to transform care delivery in today’s value-based payment environment,” said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier. “We take great pride in the fact that our members view Premier as their trusted partner in delivering high-value care and improving the health of their communities.”

Armed with clinical and operational insights from data on 40 percent of U.S. hospital discharges, forward-thinking performance improvement collaboratives and more than $50 billion in annual spend information, Premier consultants meet the needs of healthcare organizations as embedded partners through onsite strategy and implementation support, collaborative performance improvement cohorts, 24/7 on-demand data and analytic tools, and virtual education and knowledge sharing.

Best in KLAS: Enterprise Resource Planning

Premier has received high marks for its financial and supply chain capabilities. Premier’s integrated, cloud-based ERP solution provides core business processes and advanced financial decision support tools to effectively manage the supply chain and back-office needs of health systems across acute and non-acute care facilities. Additionally, Premier’s ERP solution has consistently maintained high performance scores and outpaced full suite overall scores in KLAS’s 2015 Is Cloud Disrupting Stagnant ERP Market report.

Best in KLAS: Overall Healthcare Management Consulting Firm

A new category this year, Premier is the only company to earn the Best in KLAS Overall Healthcare Management Consulting Firm title for helping healthcare organizations develop strategy and improve overall performance. Premier was also the highest overall rated organization for healthcare management consulting in KLAS’s December 2016 Healthcare Management Consulting report. The report rated Premier the highest for providing strategic expertise, depth of insight, and innovative solutions and methodology. It also noted that Premier services have helped providers achieve improved efficiency, workflow performance and cost savings, as well as access insights from peers regarding best practices and benchmarking.

The “Overall Firm” ranking is reserved for those with at least three separate services that meet the minimum KLAS Konfidence level in separate market segments, which are represented below.

Best in KLAS: Value-Based Care Consulting

Premier is the only organization to hold the second consecutive Best in KLAS Value-Based Care Consulting title for helping providers shift from fee-for-service to fee-for-value. Premier was also recently recognized by Black Book™ as the top population health consulting company in its latest survey. As the highest-rated company in value-based care consulting, Premier has extensive experience in implementing value-based payment models. This includes a 100 percent success rate in helping eligible providers apply for Medicare accountable care organization (ACO) programs. In addition, Medicare ACOs participating in Premier’s Population Health Management Collaborative have consistently outperformed their peers in achieving shared savings and quality improvement.

Best in KLAS: Financial Improvement Consulting

Premier helps healthcare organizations drive and sustain efficiencies that eliminate unjustified variation, streamline operations, and improve resource utilization and care delivery practices across the continuum. Drawing from Premier’s database and analytics solutions, including for ERP and procurement, Premier consultants work with members to implement financial transformations by improving processes, efficiency and productivity, while enhancing quality, clinical outcomes and revenue.

Best in KLAS: Strategy, Growth and Consolidation Consulting

As the leader in strategy, growth and consolidation consulting, Premier received high marks for helping healthcare organizations achieve organic expansion and acquisitions, enhancing integration between providers and payers, and improving their ability to leverage growth strategies. KLAS recognized Premier for its guidance on ambulatory surgery center strategy, medical staff development planning, strategy planning and product line development, acquisition transition support, and medical group contracting.

About Premier Inc.

Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,750 U.S. hospitals and more than 130,000 other provider organizations to transform healthcare. 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, Foursquare and Premier’s blog for more information about the company.

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