St. Luke’s University Health Network Wins 2020 Premier Alliance Excellence Award

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Premier Inc. has named St. Luke’s University Health Network, a fully integrated, nationally recognized health network serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the winner of the 2020 Richard A. Norling Premier Alliance Excellence Award.

Premier presented the annual award to St. Luke’s for exemplifying the highest level of industry innovation and advancements in delivering high-quality, cost-effective care. The St. Luke’s system – which includes 12 hospitals, more than 1,900 physicians and providers, and a regional medical school campus – leverages Premier’s performance improvement infrastructure and strategic supply chain services.

In using Premier’s data, technology, supply chain services and expertise, St. Luke’s has consistently achieved top decile performance for quality and efficiency. As a member of Premier’s bundled payment collaborative, St. Luke’s has been a top performer in generating positive savings, realizing more than $1 million in savings year over year. Additionally, through its partnership with Premier, St. Luke’s is leveraging innovative predictive analytics technology to improve maternal health, prospectively identifying women at risk for pre-eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage and pre-mature birth with a high level of accuracy.

“St. Luke’s has been a leader in accelerating innovative breakthroughs that enhance the lives of the more than 80,000 patients across its communities,” said Susan DeVore, CEO of Premier. “St. Luke’s has a deep commitment to high-quality care delivery, and its approach to teaching, research and collaboration has created new standards of care for both Premier members and the healthcare industry overall. Premier’s 34-year partnership with St. Luke’s is exceptionally valued, and we are honored to recognize them with the 2020 Premier Alliance Excellence Award.”

St. Luke’s was selected from Premier’s nationwide alliance of more than 4,100 U.S. hospitals and 200,000 other provider organizations.

“At St. Luke’s, we’re focused on caring for the sick and injured, improving the overall health of our communities and educating our healthcare professionals,” said Donna Sabol, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at St. Luke’s. “Our partnership with Premier has allowed us to generate innovative new concepts that foster patient-centered care and better educate our providers and communities. This award is a true testament to the steps St. Luke’s has taken to achieve true excellence as one connected health system.”

St. Luke’s continues to be a leader in innovation, participating in forward-thinking, value-based care collaboratives such as QUEST and Premier’s Population Health Management Collaborative, as well as ASCEND, Premier’s highly committed purchasing program. The system has also invested in bringing resiliency to the healthcare supply chain by leveraging ProvideGx, a Premier program that helps ensure health systems have continuous and affordable access to shortage medications. More recently, St. Luke’s has helped stabilize the supply chain during COVID-19 by making investments in Prestige Ameritech and DeRoyal Industries alongside Premier and other members, thereby expanding domestic manufacturing for personal protective equipment.

Previous Premier Alliance Excellence Award winners include McLaren Health Care (Detroit), University Hospitals (Cleveland), Baystate Health (Springfield, MA), Banner Health (Phoenix), Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati), Inova (Falls Church, VA) and Texas Health Resources (Arlington, TX).

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 16,000 employees providing services at 12 hospitals sites and 300+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue in excess of $2.5 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 38 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 347 residents and fellows. St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based healthcare system to earn Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. U.S. News & World Report ranked St. Luke’s No. 1 in the Lehigh Valley and No. 6 in the state. Three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals are St. Luke’s hospitals. St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health eight times total and six years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.