CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 14, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq: PINC ), a leading healthcare improvement company, has been granted a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its hospital supply expense methodology.
Premier's newly patented Supply Mix Index allows users to calculate supply expense per patient procedure. Using the index, hospitals can accurately isolate supply costs as a percentage of the total cost of a clinical procedure and compare it with other hospitals nationwide to ensure appropriate resource utilization and supply efficiency, while identifying spending waste.
"For many hospitals, supply cost is one of the largest items in their budgets, and it can be difficult to accurately compare across providers," said Premier's Mark Hiller, vice president of innovative solutions. "The Supply Mix Index methodology more accurately measures supply expense in clinical procedures and benchmarks those expenses with hospitals nationwide. This helps to ensure supply expense efficiency based on the types of clinical services being performed and it promotes best practices."
The patent was awarded to Premier's Hiller; Eugene A. Kroch, PhD, vice president and chief scientist; and Melisa Paulik, senior program manager, as inventors of the unique Supply Mix Index analysis.
Supply Mix Index integrates clinical and operational data to calculate supply cost indexes for every Medicare Severity - Diagnosis-Related Group (MS-DRG). The Supply Mix Index figure can be calculated for any acute care organization in the U.S. Aggregated and de-identified data from nearly 4 million clinical procedures was used to create the methodology.
Premier's Supply Mix Index methodology is being used in the executive level reporting application of SupplyFocus ® , Premier's supply expense performance product to which acute care facilities submit data quarterly. SupplyFocus is also included with OperationsAdvisor ® , Premier's labor productivity and benchmarking product.
Supply Mix Index is continuously updated in Premier's integrated technology and social networking platform, PremierConnect™. PremierConnect houses patient data on 1 in 4 U.S. hospital discharges, evidence-based best practices from 2.5 million daily clinical transactions, and $40 billion worth of annual provider purchases. Users can also interact and share information to ensure best practices are implemented nationwide.
About Premier, Inc., Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq: PINC ) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of more than 2,900 U.S. hospitals and nearly 100,000 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 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:
Alven Weil , Premier, Inc.
704.816.5797
