Premier Healthcare Database Being Used by National Institutes of Health to Evaluate Impact of COVID-19 on Patients Across the U.S.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Premier Inc., a leading healthcare improvement company, today announced a data licensing agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under the terms of the agreement, researchers in the Critical Care Medicine Department at the NIH Clinical Center, the largest research hospital in America, will be granted access to the Premier Healthcare Database (PHD) to conduct research on the impact of COVID-19 on patients across the U.S.

Organizations are using the PHD to understand the impact that the pandemic has had on different therapeutic areas, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment options. Researchers at the NIH Clinical Center are in the process of leveraging the PHD’s discharge and microbiology data to explore the demographic, clinical characteristics, secondary infections and treatment patterns among COVID-19 patients from more than 800 hospitals across the country, with an aim to better understand the reasons behind variations in outcome.

“Premier’s data set is one of the broadest and most robust in the industry, containing information and insights we believe are not available anywhere else,” said Denise Juliano, Group Vice President for Premier Applied Sciences^®. “The database will empower those seeking to understand COVID-19's progression and impact on patient care. We are honored that the NIH turned to Premier to assist with the collective research efforts being deployed to better understand and combat the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The PHD is comprised of data from more than 1 billion patient encounters, which equates to approximately one in every five of all inpatient discharges in the U.S. All patient-related data in the PHD is de-identified and HIPAA-compliant from both the inpatient and hospital-based outpatient settings, including demographic and disease state, and information on billed services, including medications, laboratory tests performed, diagnostics and therapeutic services. Additionally, information on hospital characteristics, including geographic location, bed size and teaching status, is also included.

Premier’s research division, Premier Applied Sciences, recently published a white paper detailing the attributes and capabilities of the PHD as it relates to COVID-19 data. The applied sciences team also hosted a webinar to review these capabilities and share insights from the experiences of physicians in New York City. The perspectives are offering guidance to health systems as to the medications and equipment needed to ensure patents are able to continue to manage chronic conditions throughout the pandemic.

The partnership is not expected to materially impact fiscal year 2021 financial results.