Premier Offers New Services to Improve Capital Equipment Budgeting, Planning.

Attainia Tools Will Be Available at Market-Leading Prices

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Premier alliance today announced that it will offer members industry-leading online capital budgeting and equipment planning software tools at market-leading prices, including a guaranteed return on investment.

"Capital equipment budgeting and planning are difficult, time-consuming tasks for healthcare providers, but getting it right allows organizations to maximize limited resources to better serve patients and communities," said Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire. "Premier's new partnership with Attainia, Inc., will make the job easier and more cost effective for our members, and in combination with our existing wide range of capital support programs and services will drive cost savings and efficiencies in this challenging area."

Premier's portfolio of "new and existing capital services is unparalleled in the market, offering the broadest array of options to accommodate individual member needs and requirements," said Alkire. "Our pricing leads the market. Additionally, our return-on-investment warranty ensures our members a 'no-lose' benefit from using these proven tools."

Among the offerings is an integrated package of software tools and professional support to optimize members' routine capital budgeting processes. Key features include process automation, customizable approval designations and real-time access to Premier's contract information.

"The budgeting tool offers improved efficiency and cost-reduction because members will have full visibility to contract price and savings, standardization and demand aggregation opportunities earlier in the planning process," said Phil Lindner, Principal, Premier Consulting Solutions.

"Premier capital contract data is pre-loaded into the budgeting tool, resulting in more accurate cost estimates earlier in the process, allowing scarce budget dollars to be allocated to other worthy projects," said Lindner. Needed equipment is sometimes left out of approved capital allocations because department heads use higher than necessary budgetary estimates.

Premier members will have access to WATCH(SM), the industry's leading online equipment catalog from Attainia, which provides detailed information and specification sheets for more than 19,000 products from more than 1,600 suppliers in 2,400 categories. Premier's portfolio of capital and construction contracts is preloaded for easy access to pricing information.

In addition to Premier's turnkey professional equipment planning professional service, members will have access to Attainia's PLAN(SM), which simplifies and accelerates the facilities and equipment planning process. Considered the industry-wide planning standard by professionals working with healthcare organizations around the world, PLAN(SM) creates a unique, common work environment for architects, contractors, equipment planners, and other professionals involved in healthcare facility planning.

Also included in this integrated package of software and services are implementation and ongoing professional support to assist members that desire to develop or already maintain internal equipment planning capabilities for construction and renovation projects. In this segment as well, Premier is delivering process improvement, market-leading pricing and a variety of flexible funding alternatives to meet any member's specific service line development objectives or financial requirements.

Members can expect significant up-front cost savings as well as increased dividends through deeper utilization of Premier's capital and construction contract portfolios.

Members will also be able to utilize Attainia's PREDICT(SM) module, through which capital demand information from both the routine budgeting process and project-related capital equipment forecasted in PLAN(SM) can be aggregated and viewed real-time. The data analysis tool can be used for identification of standardization initiatives, Premier contract opportunities including group buy events, tier optimization and local negotiation options.

"By enabling real-time visibility to all capital spending projected, both routine annual and project-based, members will achieve upfront cost reduction in addition to earning higher levels of financial return through broader utilization of Premier's capital agreement portfolio," Lindner said.

About Attainia

Attainia, Inc. is the largest supplier of capital equipment planning systems to the healthcare industry. The company is renowned for innovative products that create substantial improvements in cost-savings and efficiency for both hospital and industry partners. In addition to supporting capital equipment planning with the "PLAN" family of products, Attainia supports healthcare organizations' capital financial budgeting with "BUDGET" and total capital equipment demand visibility with "PREDICT." For more information, visit www.attainia.com.

About Premier, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Serving 1,700 hospitals and more than 46,500 other healthcare sites, Premier 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. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.