Hospitals, Healthcare Providers to Save With Premier’s New Medical and Surgical Products Distribution Agreements

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Premier Purchasing Partners, LP, today announced it has awarded new agreements for medical and surgical products distribution as well as for specialty distribution - laboratory and/or research products (formerly laboratory distribution).

New agreements for medical and surgical products distribution were awarded to

• American Medical Depot (a minority owned business) of Opa-Locka, Fla.;
• Buffalo Hospital Supply (a small business enterprise) of Buffalo, N.Y.;
• Cardinal Health Inc. of Dublin, Ohio;
• Clafin Co. (a small business enterprise) of Warwick, R.I.;
• DeKroyft-Metz and Co. Inc. (a small business enterprise) of Peoria, Ill.;
• Kreisers Inc. (a small business enterprise) of Sioux Falls, S.D.;
• McKesson Corporation of San Francisco;
• Medical Specialties Distributors, LLC, (a minority owned business) of Stoughton, Mass.;
• Medline Industries Inc. of Mundelein, Ill.;
• Midwest Medical Supply Co., LLC, (a small business enterprise) of Earth City, Mo.;
• Owens & Minor Inc. of Mechanicsville, Va.;
• Professional Hospital Supply Inc. (a woman owned business enterprise) of Temecula, Calif.; and
• Seneca Medical Inc. of Tiffin, Ohio.

New agreements for specialty distribution - laboratory and/or research products were awarded to Cardinal Health Inc. of Dublin, Ohio; Fisher HealthCare of Houston; Infolab Inc. of Greensboro, N.C.; and Laboratory Supply Company Inc. of Louisville, Ky.

Effective January 1, 2009, the agreements in both categories are available to acute care as well as other classes of trade on a contract-by-contract basis of the Premier healthcare alliance.

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

Serving more than 2,100 U.S. hospitals and 53,000-plus 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 & 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.