AnMed Health Earns Top Performer Status in Groundbreaking Medicare, Premier Inc. Pay-for-Performance Project.

Achieves Top Ranking for Clinical Areas of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) and Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery; Will Receive Bonus Payment from Medicare

ANDERSON, S.C. -- AnMed Health has been named one of the top performers in a groundbreaking pay-for-performance project that rewards hospitals for delivering higher quality care in five clinical areas.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Premier Inc., the largest healthcare alliance in the United States, are conducting the first-of-its-kind demonstration project designed to determine if economic incentives are effective at improving the quality of patient care.

AnMed Health rated in the top decile, based on its second-year, overall quality score in the clinical focus areas of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and hip and knee replacement surgery. Based on the scores, AnMed Health will receive a bonus payment of $145,256 from CMS, which awarded incentive payments of $8.7 million to 115 top-performing hospitals.

"Providing outstanding patient care has always been our primary mission," said John Miller, President of AnMed Health. "We were pleased to participate in this demonstration and are proud that our performance was rated among the best. Over time, healthcare costs can be controlled by meeting quality standards that provide treatment before a condition worsens and that eliminate unnecessary procedures."

Data from the second year of the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID), validated by CMS and reported publicly today, demonstrates a significant improvement in the quality of care across five clinical focus areas, including 1,284 heart attack patient lives saved.

"The main point is that the majority of hospitals in the HQID project, even those on the lower end of the scale, improved their quality of care across the board with respect to reliable use of scientifically based practices," said Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, president and CEO at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). "Hospitals want to offer high quality care; sometimes they just need to be pointed in the right direction. The HQID project has offered hospitals a guideline to improve their patient care."

"This study was conducted with a very strong clinical, quality and cost database from Premier. Such a database helps you to study your own care and identify opportunities for improvement," Berwick said.

HQID tracks process and outcome measures in five clinical areas - acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), pneumonia, and hip and knee replacement.

"For over a decade, Premier has been committed to working with hospitals to improve clinical quality and patient outcomes while safely reducing costs," said Richard Norling, president and chief executive officer of Premier Inc. "The findings from the first two years of the HQID project clearly show that the project is having a positive impact on the quality of care in our nation's hospitals and on the lives of patients and their families."

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

Serving 1,700 hospitals and 42,000 other healthcare sites, Premier Inc. is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates the nation's largest healthcare purchasing network, the most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information and one of the largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups in healthcare. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

About AnMed Health

AnMed Health is the fifth largest healthcare system in South Carolina. The system, which is comprised of more than 30 delivery, including four licensed hospitals, serves patients in Anderson, Pickens, Oconee and Abbeville counties in South Carolina and Hart, Franklin, Stephens and Elbert counties in Northeast Georgia. The system is anchored by AnMed Health Medical Center, a 461-bed acute care hospital in downtown Anderson. It also operates a 72-bed women's and children's hospital, 40-bed rehabilitation hospital and 27-bed chemical dependency hospital.

For complete information about the HQID project, visit www.premierinc.com/qualitydemo.