Premier Healthcare Alliance Acquires Phase 2 Consulting to Expand Its Performance Improvement Offerings to Its Member Hospitals Nationwide

Acquisition Will Strengthen Premier Consulting Solutions Division, Provide Resources to Meet Increasing Consulting Demand

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Premier healthcare alliance has acquired Phase 2 Consulting (P2C), a leading provider of consulting services to hospitals and health systems.

“The synergies created by this union allow Premier to enhance and expand its capabilities to assist its hospital members in all areas of performance improvement, from enhancing revenue to efficient management of key cost areas of labor and supplies to improving quality performance.”

The acquisition of P2C, a division of RehabCare Group, Inc. (NYSE: RHB), will complement Premier Consulting Solutions (PCS), as well as provide resources to help meet the growing demand for PCS’ services. In 2008, PCS added more than 60 new customers, along with 225 new customer engagements.

According to Susan DeVore, Premier’s incoming president and CEO, “In evaluating this opportunity, we were guided by our goal of transforming American healthcare to make it the safest, most effective and efficient system in the world. We believe that P2C’s strengths complement Premier’s capabilities and will help create new opportunities for knowledge-sharing among our alliance hospitals, as well as for the development of new products and services.”

P2C offers expertise and consulting capabilities in the areas of revenue cycle improvement, including RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor) readiness and charge capture, strategic planning and service line analysis. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, P2C has an additional office in Austin, Texas.

“Combining Phase 2’s longstanding reputation for strategic solutions with Premier’s tradition of cost and quality improvement offers a new level of support for a healthcare industry undergoing dynamic change,” commented Dr. John Short, RehabCare president and CEO, who founded P2C in 1986. “The synergies created by this union allow Premier to enhance and expand its capabilities to assist its hospital members in all areas of performance improvement, from enhancing revenue to efficient management of key cost areas of labor and supplies to improving quality performance.”

“Consulting represents a significant growth area for Premier,” said Wes Champion, PCS senior vice president. “Given the issues hospitals are facing in the current economic environment, we expect demand to continue to grow, especially in the areas of transformational consulting, revenue cycle improvement, supply chain efficiency and labor management. The combination of our two organizations gives us deep expertise in the full spectrum of hospital operations and allows us to meet the growing needs of our hospitals. This acquisition allows PCS to quickly ramp up the capacity and skills necessary to meet anticipated demand.”

Revenue growth for PCS is forecast to be more than 30 percent for FY2009, on top of 22 percent growth in the prior year.

About Premier Inc., 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

The Premier healthcare alliance is more than 2,100 U.S. hospitals and 58,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to improve healthcare quality and affordability. Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Premier has offices in San Diego, Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. (www.premierinc.com)