MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Medical device group purchasing giant Premier Inc. announced the launch of its PremierConnect Price Connect smartphone app, connecting healthcare providers with pricing on thousands of medical devices and supplies in real time.
The free app allows Premier members to access products by category, description, part number or manufacturer, providing information on contract information, pricing and "associated opportunities to reduce supply chain costs," according to a press release.
PremierConnect Price Connect is already on the market in app stores for iPhones and Android devices. The app is Premier’s second, following last year’s launch of the PremierConnect Community app for connecting members with forums and social media-esque links.
Premier is a GPO aligning about 2,900 community hospitals and 100,000 "alternate" sites of care, encompassing some 400,000 physicians. Premier, which bills itself as "1 of the nation’s largest performance improvement alliances," is most commonly known for its wide-ranging deals for hospital equipment and supplies.
The group generated about $869.3 million in revenue and $385.1 million in net income during fiscal 2013, according to SEC filings. Premier is has been making big moves in recent years, having secured a $760 million initial public offering last fall.
The GPO claims to have provided its members with more than $5 billion in savings in fiscal 2012. Premier also maintains deep data stores that in 2012 included information on 25% of U.S. patient discharges, 29% of annual hospital spending, $30 billion worth of annual direct labor expenses, 2.5 million real-time transactions every day and $40 billion in annual purchasing data.
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