Broadlane Adds Senior Executive to Lead Expanding Contracting Operations.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 20, 2002

Broadlane Inc., a leading provider of supply chain management services to the healthcare industry, today announced that it has appointed a senior executive to lead its expanding contracting services.

Steven T. Patterson joins Broadlane with a long and distinguished career in consulting. Most recently a vice president with the management consulting firm of A. T. Kearney in its Dallas office, Patterson has deep experience in information technology-enabled business process improvement and systems design and implementation, particularly in the areas of operations and supply chain management.

In his new role as the managing director in charge of the Broadlane contracting organization, Patterson, 52, will focus on initiatives aimed at leveraging Broadlane's respected contracting services in order to provide more value-added services to Broadlane's customers. Specifically, he will expand the company's contracting activities to include more non-traditional contracting areas, drive higher compliance -- and associated savings -- to its contract portfolio, and create new services to address the entire healthcare supply chain.

Patterson, whose appointment is effective on Feb. 19, will report to David C. Ricker, Broadlane's chief operating officer.

"Steve will add enormously to our ability to expand and further drive customer value by enhancing and leveraging our existing contracting activities and I'm very pleased to welcome him to Broadlane," said Ricker. "Although we are expanding our services in a number of new and innovative directions, our contracting services remain our core offerings. We will never stop innovating and expanding those central offerings."

Prior to A. T. Kearney, Patterson was a vice president with Gemini Consulting and with Andersen Consulting, where he rose to partner. He earned two undergraduate degrees at Dartmouth College and a master's in industrial administration from Purdue University. He will be based in Broadlane's Dallas offices.

Broadlane's annual customer spend on contracted supplies and services is expected to exceed $3.5 billion in 2002, which represents a 48 percent increase over 2001.

In 2001, Broadlane re-negotiated more than 150 contracts within its core portfolio, representing in excess of $1.1 billion in annual purchases for its customers. In addition, during the same year, Broadlane's contracting teams negotiated more than 400 contracts in its Broadlane Select(TM) portfolio, in which customized contracting is done on a per-client basis.

Patterson will oversee Broadlane's contracting staff consisting of 43 professionals who work in specialist teams covering such areas as Medical, Cath Lab/Radiology, Laboratory, Capital Equipment and Non-Medical, Pharmacy, Surgical, and Information Technology.

In addition, Broadlane announced that Linda Day, who has overseen the company's contracting operation since its inception, has moved out of contracting to assume responsibility for rapid implementation of the company's outsourcing services, which have become the fastest growing area of Broadlane's business. With outsourcing services Broadlane takes direct responsibility for a customer's materials management operations as part of an intense cost-reduction strategy. This puts Broadlane in the unique position of being accountable for a long list of supply chain deliverables that directly impact the customer's P&L. No other company addressing the healthcare supply chain provides this same service.

Broadlane currently provides outsourcing services for four large healthcare systems: Kaiser Permanente, Tenet Healthcare, Continuum Health Partners (New York), and The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati.

In her new position, Day will be responsible for creating and implementing collaborative transition plans that will enable new customers to quickly and smoothly convert to the services offered by Broadlane. This will ensure that they enjoy the greatest cost reductions in the least amount of time, without sacrificing quality patient care.

"No one knows our contract portfolio better than Linda and consequently no one is better positioned to help our large, integrated service customers quickly achieve substantial savings to their bottom line," said David Ricker.

About Broadlane

Through an extensive suite of services, Broadlane delivers comprehensive supply chain management services to the healthcare industry. Those services include contract management, procurement strategy consulting, materials management outsourcing, and technology services. Among the companies that focus on improving efficiencies within the healthcare supply chain, only Broadlane offers this full array of services.

Broadlane customers include leading healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente, Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC), Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS), Continuum Health Partners, The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH), U.S. Oncology (Nasdaq:USON), IASIS Healthcare, Alliance Imaging Inc. (NYSE:AIQ) and others. Broadlane counts among its customers more than 300 acute care hospitals and more than 1,400 sub-acute care facilities. Broadlane has offices in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif.; Cincinnati; Dallas; and New York City. For more information visit www.broadlane.com.