Community Healthcare System Partners with Premier Inc. to Drive Operational Innovation and High-Quality Patient Care

CHARLOTTE, NC ─ Community Healthcare System, recognized for high-quality care across Northwest Indiana, has partnered with Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading healthcare improvement company. Through this new partnership agreement, Community Healthcare System will have access to Premier’s supply chain services, including its group purchasing organization (GPO) and PremierConnect^® performance improvement technology. The goal is to streamline and enhance operational, quality improvement and cost savings opportunities across the system.

Community Healthcare System also will implement Premier’s service line analytics technology, which provides insights on pharmaceutical spend and clinical trends to reduce high-cost drug utilization and improve outcomes.

“We are dedicated to improving the quality of life and health of our patients and communities across Northwest Indiana,” said Mary Ann Shacklett, Senior Vice President-Finance, Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana, Inc. (parent company to Community Healthcare System). “We appreciate that Premier is aligned with that commitment and will not only enhance our overall efficiency, but also will prime Community Healthcare System for continued growth and innovation. We believe that Premier’s extensive span of contracts, innovative technology suite and partnership approach positions us for long-term success.”

As a new member of Premier, Community Healthcare System joins a powerful alliance of health systems and will receive access to industry-leading solutions and a dedicated team of subject-matter experts with the proven ability to achieve results. By integrating Community Healthcare System’s supply, pharmacy and service line spend with clinical utilization trends and outcomes, Premier will pinpoint improvement opportunities that will allow the health system to achieve the largest return on investment while maintaining optimal patient outcomes.

“Today’s healthcare landscape demands that providers adopt a holistic, data-driven and clinically integrated approach to operations management,” said Michael J. Alkire, President and incoming CEO at Premier. “The power of Premier data coupled with a technology-enabled supply chain drives enterprise-wide cost and quality improvements, affording our provider partners more time to focus on care. We welcome Community Healthcare System to our growing membership and look forward to working with them to drive excellence across their enterprise.”

The financial impact of the agreement was not disclosed.

Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Premier to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “plans” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include comments as to Premier’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside Premier’s control. More information on potential factors that could affect Premier’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Premier’s periodic and current filings with the SEC and available on Premier’s website at investors.premierinc.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise that occur after that date.

About Community Healthcare System

Community Healthcare System is comprised of not-for-profit hospitals: Community Hospital in Munster; St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago; St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart; specialty hospital Community Stroke & Rehabilitation Center in Crown Point and Hartsfield Village, a Continuing Care Retirement Community in Munster. The Northwest Indiana healthcare system’s vast network of care locations includes outpatient, surgical and rehabilitation centers, physician practices, behavioral health, occupational health, home care, a medically-based fitness center, cancer research foundation and cancer support center. Community Healthcare System hospitals are regional leaders in cancer treatment, cardiac care, bariatric medicine and orthopedics.