Benzinga | Aug 16, 2021 07:33AM EDT

UnityPoint Health Selects Premier Inc. for Strategic Supply Chain Partnership

UnityPoint Health, a leading network of hospitals, clinics and home care services across the Midwest, has partnered with Premier Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC), a leading technology-driven healthcare improvement company, to foster optimal management of its supply chain portfolio and support high-value healthcare.

This new partnership will allow UnityPoint Health to tap into Premier's comprehensive offerings, including its supply chain services and group purchasing organization (GPO), PINC AI(tm) technology platform and a focused team of experts to strengthen the execution of a clinically integrated supply chain. UnityPoint Health will also implement Premier's service line analytics, which provide insights on pharmaceutical spend and clinical trends to reduce high-cost drug utilization and improve outcomes.

"Today's healthcare environment calls for a model that is focused on building healthier communities and better outcomes while maintaining highly effective and efficient operations," said Mark Johnson, Vice President of Supply Management at UnityPoint Health. "We believe that Premier has the expertise, insights and technology to help us enhance operational, quality improvement and cost savings opportunities across the system. We look forward to seeing what we can accomplish with Premier as our partner."

The strategic supply chain partnership builds on UnityPoint Health's relationship with Premier. Since 2015, UnityPoint Health has leveraged clinical analytics from Premier. With this new multi-year agreement, Premier experts will support UnityPoint Health's optimization of insights and solutions derived from Premier's Clinical and Margin PINC AI offerings.

PINC AI encompasses Premier's benchmarking, analytics, reporting, and clinical surveillance and decision support technologies. PINC AI provides actionable intelligence that improves outcomes, supports strong financial performance and enables success in new, alternative payment models.

"UnityPoint Health and Premier share a vision for value-based, cost-effective healthcare, and we are thrilled to welcome them to our membership," said Andy Brailo, Chief Customer Officer at Premier. "With the right strategic partner and technology-enabled insights, this vision is within reach. We're looking forward to our collaboration with UnityPoint Health and the direct impact this partnership will have on their operations and continued ability to provide outstanding patient care."

The partnership is not expected to materially impact Premier's fiscal year 2022 financial results. The financial impact of the agreement was not disclosed.

UnityPoint Health is one of the nation's most integrated health systems, providing care to both metropolitan and rural communities across Iowa, western Illinois and southern Wisconsin. UnityPoint has relationships with more than 400 physician clinics, 20 regional and 19 community network hospitals, seven community mental health centers, four accredited colleges and home care services throughout its nine regions. UnityPoint Health entities employ more than 32,000 employees who are dedicated to making it easier for people to live well.