ATLANTA -- MedAssets recently announced that Baptist Health Care (BHC), a four-hospital health system and member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, has signed a multi-year agreement that replaces its incumbent vendor for a wide array of the company's total cost management and operational efficiency solutions. The Pensacola, Fla.-based health system will utilize the company's Strategic Sourcing, Operational Improvement, Clinical Resource Management, Procure-to-Pay solutions, as well as Cost Analytics and Operational Analytics tools. Plans call for multiple initiatives designed to reduce the organization's overall cost structure on a sustainable basis by identifying savings opportunities--both in price and utilization.

"As we position our organization for the future of healthcare, we are focusing on a breadth of financial and operational initiatives to enhance overall performance management," said Mark Faulkner, president and chief executive officer, Baptist Health Care. "MedAssets offers a unique set of solutions that will enable our team to implement innovative strategies across the organization and support our goal of remaining a thriving, locally-owned, healthcare system."

Executing Innovative Strategies to Lower Costs, Improve Operational Efficiencies and Align Clinical Delivery

Like many health systems today, BHC is managing the impact of declining reimbursements and greater pressure to assure high-quality clinical delivery. The MedAssets engagement supports BHC's efforts to enhance collaboration with clinical teams to improve overall visibility of the link between cost of care to supply utilization and patient outcomes.

Data-driven insights and robust analytics provided by MedAssets enables care providers to move beyond cost containment on price to make informed changes that drive total cost reduction, financial optimization and clinical delivery alignment and efficiency.

"Now more than ever, hospitals need to engage in a clinical and operational transformation to achieve significant improvements to operating margins in a short, defined timeframe," said Keith Thurgood, president, Spend and Clinical Resource Management, MedAssets. "We are pleased that BHC has entrusted MedAssets in an advisory services role to analyze cost reduction opportunities for greater savings and financial viability. Our proven, holistic approach drives sustainable results and helps our healthcare clients to progress beyond traditional cost containment methods to optimize operations and improve quality care delivery."

About Baptist Health Care

Baptist Health Care is a community-owned, not-for-profit health care organization committed to improving the quality of life for people and communities in northwest Florida and south Alabama. A 2003 Malcolm Baldrige recipient, Baptist continuously strives to be a national leader in quality and service. Baptist Health Care includes four hospitals, two medical parks, Andrews Institute for Orthopedic & Sports Medicine, Lakeview Center and Baptist Medical Group. With more than 6,000 employees and employed physicians, Baptist Health Care is the largest non-governmental employer in northwest Florida. For more information, please visit www.eBaptistHealthCare.org.

About MedAssets

MedAssets (Nasdaq:MDAS) is a healthcare performance improvement company focused on helping providers realize financial and operational gains so that they can sustainably serve the needs of their community. More than 4,400 hospitals and 122,000 non-acute healthcare providers currently use the company's evidence-based solutions, best practice processes and analytics to help reduce the total cost of care, enhance operational efficiency, align clinical delivery, and improve revenue performance across the care continuum. For more information, please visit www.medassets.com.