QVDX Quovadx (MM)

The Premier healthcare alliance acquired CareScience from Quovadx, Inc. today, bringing together two of the nation�s leading organizations working with hospitals to improve healthcare quality and efficiency. �This is good news for patients and all of us who care about the quality and cost of healthcare in America,� said Richard A. Norling, president and CEO of Premier. �The combined capabilities of Premier and CareScience represent by far the most comprehensive resource in the nation for services to improve clinical quality and efficiency.� Together, Premier and CareScience serve more than 900 hospitals. CareScience's physician-accepted, clinical expertise complements Premier's process improvement focus and unparalleled database of hospital comparative data. Premier�s Performance Suite� is a single source for integrating quality and safety, labor management, and supply chain efficiency. It provides Web-based performance measurement and benchmarking, real-time surveillance and best practices to help improve quality and reduce costs. �The acquisition of CareScience further demonstrates Premier�s commitment to its long-term goal of reshaping American healthcare in ways that make it the safest, most effective and efficient system in the world,� said Susan DeVore, Premier�s chief operating officer. �The greatest challenge for hospitals today is improving quality of care while safely reducing costs. Today�s agreement will help hospitals across the nation meet that challenge.� CareScience works with hospitals to use comparative data as the basis for implementing clinical quality improvement plans that optimize patient outcomes and operational performance, increase staff efficiency and reduce costs. �CareScience�s advanced clinical analytics and research capabilities complement Premier�s expertise in data management and performance improvement,� said Stephanie Alexander, Premier senior vice president for Healthcare Informatics. �The combination of Premier and CareScience creates new opportunities for research, knowledge-sharing among hospitals and development of new solutions and tools to foster more physician and clinician engagement in quality improvement for our nation�s hospitals and other healthcare providers.� Said Tom Zajac, president of CareScience, �Premier shares our values and our commitment to improving healthcare, and this union brings expanded value to our customers and staff. By combining our resources we create the possibility for new research insights, expanded advocacy and services that will benefit all of healthcare.� As a Premier member and CareScience client, Banner Health in Phoenix, Ariz., has firsthand knowledge of the strengths of both organizations, said Peter Fine, Banner Health�s president and CEO. �Both of these organizations have a strong commitment to improving healthcare,� Fine said. �This is a compelling combination of resources and expertise that will serve hospitals well.� About CareScience CareScience, formerly a division of Quovadx, Inc., joined the Premier healthcare alliance on March 30, 2007. Based in Philadelphia, CareScience assists hospitals in translating organizational vision and goals into quality improvement plans that optimize patient outcomes and operational performance, increase staff efficiency and reduce costs. CareScience supplies the people and technology to help its customers ensure that high-quality care is delivered, throughout the healthcare system, through clinical data access and clinical process transformation. For more information, visit www.CareScience.com. About Premier, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient Serving more than 1,700 hospitals and 45,000 other healthcare sites, Premier is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates the nation's largest healthcare purchasing network, the most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information and one of the largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups in healthcare. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.Premierinc.com.