Who We Are:
Premier is a leading healthcare alliance collectively owned by more than 200 independent hospitals and healthcare systems in the United States. Together, they operate or are affiliated with nearly 1,500 hospitals and other healthcare sites.

Premier’s owners include some of the nation’s largest and best-known not-for-profit hospital and healthcare systems and referral centers as well as strong community hospitals, generally mirroring the composition of the hospital/health system industry in the United States.

What We Do:
Premier is dedicated to helping its members improve clinical and operational performance. Hospitals and health systems come together in Premier:

• To gain advantages of scale for purposes such as group purchasing of supplies and services.
• To achieve greater operational and clinical effectiveness and efficiency in services essential to healthcare, such as clinical performance improvement, biomedical equipment maintenance, and supply chain management.
• To share the risk of developing new resources needed in healthcare, such as electronic commerce capabilities.
• To seek out and communicate better ways of providing care – those we discover, or those produced by the scientific community.

You may have read in business publications about joint ventures called strategic alliances among independent companies – for example, in the banking, airline, telecommunications, and auto manufacturing industries. In these arrangements, the companies cooperate to do things together – from launching satellites to sharing flight reservations systems – that none could do as economically or quickly on its own. Each is better able to concentrate on its main business, to compete, and to provide value for stakeholders.

Premier applies similar concepts in support of our members' local efforts to improve health services, and Premier is our strategic alliance enterprise. Our hospital and health systems take part either as owners of the Premier companies – holders of shares or other equity interests – or as affiliates through contractual relationships. Some Premier activities are substantial business units (serving our organizations, affiliates, and other clients) that produce operating profits. Distributed as earnings, those profits help us hold down the costs of health services and make them more accessible for our communities.

The diverse hospitals and health systems that own Premier share some common characteristics:

• They are all structured as not-for-profit organizations, chartered with responsibilities benefiting humankind such as providing health services, fostering good health, carrying out research, and teaching healthcare professionals.
• All have a goal of making a real, positive difference in shaping healthcare in America for the better.
• Members share a conviction that proactive and creative solutions – rather than passive and set in the status quo – are most effective in dealing with the problems of healthcare costs and access.
• They share the belief that, individually in their respective markets and together in Premier, hospitals can apply business acumen and enterprise in performing our responsibilities.

PDM Healthcare is a leading national supply chain management company offering services to thousands of healthcare clients nationwide. PDM Healthcare is an innovative company well known for their innovations.

PDM has negotiated group purchasing contracts with leading manufacturers for branded and generic pharmaceuticals, specialty/biotech and OTC products medical/surgical supplies, HME/DME equipment, wound care, nutritionals, diabetes care, office supplies, and technology products in order to offer our members a truly diversified portfolio of contracts to fully maximize savings. On average, PDM members save 10%-20% on their total annual spend.

Because of our diverse contract portfolio, PDM Healthcare is able to offer our services to all healthcare facilities, including:

• Long Term Care Providers
• Retail Pharmacy
• Mail Order/Managed Care Pharmacy
• Specialty Pharmacy
• Compounding Pharmacy
• Home Health Care
• Chain Pharmacy
• Long Term Care Facilities
• Hospitals
• Surgery Centers
• Physician Practices and Clinics
• Travel Clinics

PDM Healthcare's Group Purchasing Division is dedicated to providing our members with the best quality products and technology at competitive (discounted) pricing. Compliant and committed members can achieve significant savings and unparalleled service for all of their business needs. We work with both consortiums and independent facilities nationwide to streamline operational efficiency, decrease overhead, manage purchasing budgets, and enhance revenue. The discounts we can provide to members is a direct result of the volume of purchases represented by our own member consortium, which amounts to over $7 billion in purchasing transactions per annum.

Innovatix is the nation’s leading non-acute care group purchasing organization. Since 1993, we have been committed to providing individualized purchasing, business, and supply chain solutions to more than 16,000 members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Our membership consists of infusion, specialty, long-term care, retail, combo shop, and mail order pharmacies; senior living facilities; behavioral healthcare facilities; independent oncologists; and K-12 schools.

Innovatix offers one of the most extensive and competitive purchasing portfolios available today. Our relationship with Premier allows members to access some of the same discount pricing that was typically available only to the nation’s largest acute care institutions. In addition, we have negotiated exceptional pricing and advantageous purchasing terms directly with vendors and manufacturers in order to cater specifically to the markets we serve. We provide our members with access to a $36 billion purchasing portfolio that comprises over 1,700 contracts through 900-plus suppliers.

Members can save on

• Brand Name & Generic Pharmaceuticals
• Blood Products
• Medical Supplies
• Capital Equipment
• Facility Maintenance & Construction
• Office & IT Supplies
• Cellular Voice & Data Services
• And more!

In addition to helping our members save money, we also offer

• Supply Chain Consulting, Spend Analysis, and Rebate Management
• Clinical Support
• Continuing Education (CE) Opportunities
• Discounts for Members’ Employees
• Unparalleled Customer Service
• Industry Tools, Publications, and Updates

Membership is FREE. Join today by visiting our website.

Pioneering contract pricing for the Specialty Pharmacy market!

Armada Health Care is the nation’s largest Specialty Pharmacy Group Purchasing Organization and is leading the industry in establishing “Specialty Pharmacy” as a separate trade class. In 2006, Armada members purchased over $6 billion in specialty pharmacy products, representing nearly 20% of the specialty pharmacy market. Armada’s unparalleled success is driven by its ability to deliver new, never-before-seen specialty pharmacy contracts that provide enhanced profitability to their members. These unique contracts are supported by Armada’s proprietary and sophisticated prescription management solutions that compliment this focus on the specialty market.

Armada members dispense life-saving therapies for patients in many clinical disease states, such as:

• Asthma
• Cancer/Oncology
• Chronic Fatigue
• Crohn’s Disease
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Diabetes
• Growth Hormone
• Hemophilia
• Hepatitis
• HIV/AIDS
• Infertility
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Organ Transplant
• Plaque Psoriasis
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Renal Dialysis
• And others…

Armada members have access to their complete account information at any time on-line. The Armada Web site offers their members easy access to the latest pricing on supplies and pharmaceuticals, reporting tools that analyze current as well as historical purchasing data including market share trends by product. All of these tools are web-based can be viewed through the Armada Members Only web-site 24 hours a day/365 days a year.

Armada places a high emphasis on the level of customer service provided to their members. By combining an in-depth knowledge of the industry, skilled customer care representatives and a responsive national sales force, Armada is able to meet the total needs of each and every member.

The percentage of specialty pharmaceutical products contracted by Armada more than doubled in 2006 and the number of committed Armada specialty pharmacy members has increased more than 20-fold. Through a collaborative effort with its Specialty Pharmacy members, Armada continues to pioneer additional specialty contracts for other biotech and high-cost specialty medications as it also forges ahead in creating this separate trade class.

Armada Health Care: Pioneering…Collaborative…Results

For additional information, please contact Armada Health Care or visit our website through the links below.

Pharmacies • Hospices
Manufacturers

The Hospice Provider Group Inc. is a collection of pharmacies, hospices and medical equipment companies that provide materials for hospice use. Supplies obtained are specific for hospice use only and cannot be used for retail or other sales.

Hospice organizations are encouraged to join Hospice Provider Group, Inc. Hospices should request that their contracted suppliers become members of HPG. This will insure that those hospices can take advantage of the negotiated contracts.

• Changes the classification of hospice patients to institutional
• Brings together hospices and their providers to obtain favored pricing supplies
• Alleviates the upward spiral of costs associated with hospice care
• Obtains price reductions and value added services
• Maintains a formulary specific to hospice
• Publishes a newsletter of topics for the hospice market
• Members may be pharmacies, medical equipment suppliers or hospices
• Hospice members pay no fee to join HPG. Pharmacy members have a nominal, annual fee for membership in HPG
• Members shall guarantee that products obtained through an HPG contract will be sold for hospice use only
• Pharmacy members shall keep products obtained through HPG contracts separate from similar items for sale to any other market
• Pharmacy members shall keep a record of products purchased under HPG contracts so that Hospice Provider Group, Inc. can guarantee suppliers that all items are being utilized for hospice care