Dive Brief:
- Premier, Inc., which runs a healthcare-improvement alliance of 3,000-plus hospitals and 110,000 other providers, launched a mobile app June 24. It gives its member providers and contracted suppliers instant access to product pricing on all types of purchasing contracts.
- The app, called PremierConnect Price Lookup, contains data for about 6.75 million items from more than 1,000 suppliers. In addition to working on the iPhone and iPad, the app is Android compatible and accessible through Google Play.
- Premier's app lets providers search by product description, part number or manufacturer name, and helps them find product pricing and contract information, such as specifics on price tiers, contract numbers and associated opportunities to reduce supply-chain costs. And suppliers can validate pricing and price-activated tiers for specific healthcare facilities.
Dive Insight:
Premier is "continually looking for innovative and efficient ways to meet the evolving needs" of its members and contracted suppliers, Keith Figlioli, Premier's senior vice president of healthcare informatics, said.
According to Premier, its Price Lookup app will allow users to network with peers, comb through analytics, and share private-sector best practices through the PremierConnect integrated technology and social networking platform. The platform aggregates patient data on one in three U.S. hospital discharges, evidence-based best practices from 2.5 million daily clinical transactions, and approximately $41 billion in annual provider purchases.
Premier's new app apparently also has one more thing going for it. David Mimms, system director of materials management at Meridian, Miss.-based Rush Health Systems, described it (in Premier's press release announcing the app's introduction) as "extremely easy to use."