Bon Secours Health System, Inc. to Deploy Premier, Inc.'s Enterprise-Wide Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Platform

Maryland-Based Catholic Health System Expands Partnership With Premier to Leverage Integrated Data and Advanced Analytics


CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bon Secours Health System, Inc. (BSHSI), a $3.4 billion not-for-profit Catholic health system in Marriottsville, Md., is expanding its partnership with Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq:PINC) by deploying the PremierConnect® Enterprise cloud-based data warehouse and business intelligence platform.

Recognized by the American Hospital Association as a Most Wired organization, BSHSI consists of more than 22,000 caregivers helping people across six states. For more than 20 years, the health system has worked with Premier to drive new levels of clinical and operational performance using Premier supply chain and performance services. This includes leveraging Premier's full suite of quality, safety, labor and supply chain software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps, advisory services and data-driven collaboratives.

BSHSI will use PremierConnect Enterprise to access, integrate and interpret its clinical, financial and operational data to produce actionable predictive and prescriptive analytics.

"When it comes to healthcare, identifying the value of data is a complex challenge," said Skip Hubbard, BSHSI's senior vice president for business intelligence and performance improvement. "One data point does not yield an insight and even a set of data doesn't give us the full picture. In order to meaningfully improve the way care is delivered to a patient population, we need our data analytics to make connections that translate into actionable intelligence."

Fully managed by Premier, PremierConnect Enterprise includes membership in the Data Alliance Collaborative (DAC). The DAC is a first-of-its-kind initiative led by providers that are co-developing data analytics and business intelligence solutions to improve population health and operational performance. The DAC now consists of eight of the nation's leading health systems, as well as Premier and its industry partners IBM and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Members have a proven track record of redesigning care delivery so it's more cost-effective, patient-centered and aligned with the transition to value-based care models, including accountable care organizations (ACOs).

"This partnership is a key step in helping us predict community needs," said Marlon Priest, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer at BSHSI. "It is a major part of our strategy to make care more affordable through clinical transformation. We are excited about what this next step with Premier can bring to our providers."

"Premier members want solutions that can scale and grow with them," said Keith Figlioli, senior vice president of healthcare informatics, Premier. "It's challenging to grapple with the machines, devices and multiple technologies that don't exchange information with each other. Because Premier is vendor and payer agnostic, we have the ability to provide the whole data picture, making it a lot harder for unnecessary variation to hide, and a lot easier drive change. We look forward to working with BSHSI to help free their data so they can focus on providing the best, most efficient care to the people and patients they care about."

All Premier services are accessed through PremierConnect®, Premier's integrated technology platform. PremierConnect houses patient data on 1 in 3 U.S. hospital discharges and approximately $41 billion in annual provider purchases, while enabling real-time member interactions across the nation.

The terms of the contract were not disclosed. However, given BSHSI's current engagement with Premier across many products and services, Premier expects the expanded relationship to contribute modestly to fiscal 2015 revenue and earnings.

About Bon Secours Health System, Inc.

Bon Secours Health System, Inc. based in Marriottsville, Maryland, is a $3.4 billion dollar not-for-profit Catholic health system that owns, manages or joint ventures 19 acute care, 5 long term care, 4 assisted living, 6 retirement communities/senior housing, 14 home care and hospice services, and other facilities, primarily on the East Coast. Bon Secours Health System consists of more than 22,000 caregivers helping people in six states.  Its vision is to be a prophetic Catholic health ministry partnering with communities to create a more humane world, build health and social justice and provide exceptional value for those served.  For more information, visit www.bshsi.org.

About Premier, Inc.

Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq:PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,000 U.S. hospitals and 110,000 other providers 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.

Forward-looking statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, such as BSHSI's continued use of Premier's supply chain and performance services at current or expanded 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, as well as those discussed under the "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements" section of Premier's IPO Prospectus, dated September 25, 2013, filed 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.

CONTACT: Morgan Bridges-Guthrie, Premier, Inc.; Morgan_Bridges@PremierInc.com; 704.816.4152