Staten Island University Hospital Earns Top Performer Status in Groundbreaking Medicare, Premier Inc. Pay-for-Performance Project.

*Achieves Top Ranking for Clinical Areas of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) and Heart Failure, Will Receive Bonus Payment from Medicare

*Top-Rated Scorer in New York City and New York State, SIUH Ranks 13 out of 266 Hospitals Nationwide in All Three Heart Related Categories

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island University Hospital has been named one the top performers in a groundbreaking Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Premier Inc. pay-for-performance project that rewards hospitals for delivering higher quality care in five clinical areas.

Staten Island University Hospital, was rated in the top five percent nationally and in the top tiers of hospitals as it achieves a second decile ranking based on second-year overall quality score in the clinical focus areas of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and heart failure. Based on this score, Staten Island University Hospital will receive a bonus payment of $143,000 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 Anthony C. Ferreri, Staten Island University Hospital president and CEO. "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."

Mr. Ferreri indicated the Staten Island University Hospital continued to improve. As an example, SIUH received a rating of 98.4 percent in the category of coronary artery bypass surgery, up from 96.9 in the first year of the study. 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 Staten Island University Hospital: Founded in 1861, Staten Island University Hospital is a fully accredited 775-bed, not-for-profit healthcare system with campuses in the Ocean Breeze and Princes' Bay communities of Richmond County, the fastest growing borough in New York City. A teaching center with leading centers of excellence, Staten Island University Hospital is a major affiliate of the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn.

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