Premier and Siemens sign purchasing deal

Group purchasing organization Premier of Charlotte, NC, and SiemensMedical Systems of Iselin, NJ, have signed a three-year purchasingdeal for equipment and services that is expected to save Premiermembers over $20 million a year. Siemens will be one of two preferred-providervendors and will offer Premier members substantial discounts underthe deal, which is part of Premier's effort to consolidate thedisparate purchasing portfolios of the organizations—AmericanHealthcare Systems, Premier Health Alliance, and SunHealth Alliance—that joined to form Premier. Premier is negotiating a similarpreferred-vendor agreement with another multimodality firm, accordingto the company.