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

Vidant Health, a 1,447-bed academic health system in eastern North Carolina, has partnered with Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company, on a multi-year agreement to access a customized bundle of enterprise-wide performance improvement and supply chain services, consulting and analytics offerings that will support its efforts to advance quality and operational performance across its organization.

“Serving more than 1.4 million people across eight hospitals, Vidant brings advances in clinical care, education, research, community health and prevention to the Premier alliance,” said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier. “They are a progressive health system with award-winning medical facilities, and we look forward to supporting their mission to provide patient- and family-centered care of the highest quality.”

Vidant will access Premier’s group purchasing services, as well as robust clinical, financial and operational data and analytics from the PremierConnect^® performance improvement platform. PremierConnect will enable Vidant to standardize its data, examine care delivery utilization and variation patterns, view clinician performance, compare outcomes, prioritize areas of improvement, and understand the impact of value-based payment policies across the continuum.

“Today’s healthcare environment continues to evolve, which is why it is important that we remain focused on our goal of excellence,” said Michael Waldrum, CEO of Vidant Health. “As we grow, we continue to align our academic and community programs to best serve people throughout Eastern North Carolina. With next-generation analytics, seasoned experts and its vast network of healthcare stakeholders, we believe Premier will help us accelerate to excellence by developing the future-focused skills and competencies needed to succeed in value-based payment models and improve health across the region.”

Vidant will also engage Premier’s industry-leading consultants in a total clinical, financial and operational improvement effort to advance efficiencies and high-quality care across its organization.

“Academic health systems have a unique responsibility to provide exceptional patient care, while at the same time effectively educating healthcare professionals and constantly innovating,” said Andrew Ziskind, MD, senior vice president of academic health system strategy at Premier. “With a strong history of value-based care delivery and a focus on population health, Vidant has a wonderful opportunity to advance those goals across their system. We welcome Vidant to the alliance and intend to exceed their enterprise-wide transformational expectations.”

Vidant 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 Vidant Health

Vidant Health is a mission-driven, 1,447-bed health system that annually serves more than 1.4 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties. The not-for-profit system is made up of 12,000 employees, eight hospitals, home health, hospice, wellness centers, and Vidant Medical Group, a multi-specialty physician and provider group with more than 420 providers in more than 80 practice sites in eastern North Carolina. Vidant is affiliated with The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. As a major resource for health services and education, Vidant has a mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina. For more information, visit www.vidanthealth.com.

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.

Forward-looking statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, such as Vidant Health’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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