CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bon Secours Health

System, Inc. (BSHSI), a $3.4 billion not-for-profit Catholic health

system in Marriottsville, Md., is expanding its partnership with

Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq:PINC) by deploying the PremierConnect(R)

Enterprise cloud-based data warehouse and business intelligence

platform.

Recognized by the American Hospital Association as a Most Wired

organization, BSHSI consists of more than 22,000 caregivers helping

people across six states. For more than 20 years, the health system has

worked with Premier to drive new levels of clinical and operational

performance using Premier supply chain and performance services. This

includes leveraging Premier's full suite of quality, safety, labor and

supply chain software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps, advisory services and

data-driven collaboratives.

BSHSI will use PremierConnect Enterprise to access, integrate and

interpret its clinical, financial and operational data to produce

actionable predictive and prescriptive analytics.

"When it comes to healthcare, identifying the value of data is a

complex challenge," said Skip Hubbard, BSHSI's senior vice president

for business intelligence and performance improvement. "One data point

does not yield an insight and even a set of data doesn't give us the

full picture. In order to meaningfully improve the way care is

delivered to a patient population, we need our data analytics to make

connections that translate into actionable intelligence."

Fully managed by Premier, PremierConnect Enterprise includes membership

in the Data Alliance Collaborative (DAC). The DAC is a

first-of-its-kind initiative led by providers that are co-developing

data analytics and business intelligence solutions to improve

population health and operational performance. The DAC now consists of

eight of the nation's leading health systems, as well as Premier and

its industry partners IBM and the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte. Members have a proven track record of redesigning care

delivery so it's more cost-effective, patient-centered and aligned with

the transition to value-based care models, including accountable care

organizations (ACOs).

"This partnership is a key step in helping us predict community needs,"

said Marlon Priest, MD, executive vice president and chief medical

officer at BSHSI. "It is a major part of our strategy to make care more

affordable through clinical transformation. We are excited about what

this next step with Premier can bring to our providers."

"Premier members want solutions that can scale and grow with them,"

said Keith Figlioli, senior vice president of healthcare informatics,

Premier. "It's challenging to grapple with the machines, devices and

multiple technologies that don't exchange information with each other.

Because Premier is vendor and payer agnostic, we have the ability to

provide the whole data picture, making it a lot harder for unnecessary

variation to hide, and a lot easier drive change. We look forward to

working with BSHSI to help free their data so they can focus on

providing the best, most efficient care to the people and patients they

care about."

All Premier services are accessed through PremierConnect(R), Premier's

integrated technology platform. PremierConnect houses patient data on 1

in 3 U.S. hospital discharges and approximately $41 billion in annual

provider purchases, while enabling real-time member interactions across

the nation.

The terms of the contract were not disclosed. However, given BSHSI's

current engagement with Premier across many products and services,

Premier expects the expanded relationship to contribute modestly to

fiscal 2015 revenue and earnings.

About Bon Secours Health System, Inc.

Bon Secours Health System, Inc. based in Marriottsville, Maryland, is a

$3.4 billion dollar not-for-profit Catholic health system that owns,

manages or joint ventures 19 acute care, 5 long term care, 4 assisted

living, 6 retirement communities/senior housing, 14 home care and

hospice services, and other facilities, primarily on the East Coast.

Bon Secours Health System consists of more than 22,000 caregivers

helping people in six states. Its vision is to be a prophetic Catholic

health ministry partnering with communities to create a more humane

world, build health and social justice and provide exceptional value

for those served. For more information, visit www.bshsi.org.

About Premier, Inc.

Premier, Inc. (Nasdaq:PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement

company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,000 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.

Forward-looking statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical

or current facts, such as BSHSI's continued use of Premier's supply

chain and performance services at current or expanded levels, as

discussed herein, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning

of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks,

uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results,

performance or achievements of Premier to be materially different from

historical results or from any future results or projections expressed

or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers

should not place undue reliance on any forward looking statements. In

addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and

uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the

conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as "believes,"

"belief," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans"

to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may

include comments as to Premier's beliefs and expectations as to future

events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to

uncertainties, many of which are outside Premier's control. More

information on potential factors that could affect Premier's financial

results is included from time to time in the "Forward-Looking

Statements," "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis

of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of Premier's

periodic and current filings with the SEC, as well as those discussed

under the "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements" section of

Premier's IPO Prospectus, dated September 25, 2013, filed with the SEC

and available on Premier's website at investors.premierinc.com.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.

Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any

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