Premier Healthcare Alliance Experts Pen Chapter in Book Honored by HIMSS as 2007 Book of the Year

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Three Premier healthcare alliance experts contributed to Paper Kills: Transforming Health and Healthcare with Information Technology, winner of the 2007 HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) book of the year award presented at the organization’s 2008 Annual Awards Dinner during its Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando February 26.

Chapter 10 of the book was written by Richard Bankowitz, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P., Premier vice president and medical director; Meg Horgan, R.N., M.S.N., Premier vice president, customer service and performance improvement; and Eugene A. Kroch, Ph.D., Premier vice president and chief scientist, along with Beryl Vallejo, Dr.P.H., R.N., president, BJV Consulting, LLP.

“Health information technology offers real hope for significant improvement to healthcare for all Americans,” said Stephanie Alexander, senior vice president of Premier Healthcare Informatics. “We are proud of the contributions that Premier employees made to this thought-provoking challenge to employ technology to drive the best patient outcomes at lower costs.”

Paper Kills offers insight into the world of healthcare IT and policy, exploring pressing issues in the drive to modernize and improve healthcare through health information technology. Chapter 10, the last, is entitled “Advancing Research and Clinical Improvement through Health Information Technology: The Power of Aggregated Data.”

The book, published by The Center for Health Transformation (CHT), was edited by CHT’s David Merritt and features an introduction by former U.S. House Speaker and CHT founder Newt Gingrich as well as chapters by leading healthcare experts.

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

Serving 1,700 U.S. hospitals and more than 49,000 other healthcare sites, the Premier healthcare alliance and its members are transforming healthcare together. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates one of the leading healthcare purchasing networks and the nation's most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information. A subsidiary operates one of the nation's largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups. A world leader in helping healthcare providers deliver dramatic improvements in care, Premier is working with the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia, and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.