Premier, Inc. Named a World's Most Ethical Company(R) for Eighth Year

Recognized by the Ethisphere Institute for Continuing to Raise the Bar on Ethical Leadership


CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 9, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq:PINC) has been named a 2015 World's Most Ethical Company® by the Ethisphere Institute for the eighth year in a row.

The global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, the Ethisphere Institute selected Premier for continuing to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. Premier is one of only eight companies in the healthcare industry honored this year.

"Premier's dedication to setting and abiding by the highest possible ethical standards allows us to responsibly support alliance members in creating healthier communities," said Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO. "Receiving this award eight years in a row is a testament to our ongoing commitment to the top standards of integrity in the industry."

Premier's group purchasing and corporate codes of conduct and practices are available on its public website. Each year, Premier complies with the Healthcare Group Purchasing Industry Initiative's public accountability questionnaire documenting the company's policies and practices to maintain an ethical and transparent healthcare supply chain.

"The World's Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World's Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right thing," said Ethisphere's Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Premier for this extraordinary achievement."

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient™ framework. The framework was developed over years of effort to provide a means to assess an organization's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program, corporate citizenship and responsibility, culture of ethics, governance and leadership, innovation and reputation.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine and The World's Most Ethical Companies Executive Briefing. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.

About Premier, Inc.

Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq:PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,400 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.

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