Sep 30 2010
The Premier healthcare alliance’s Premier Construction Services has engaged in more than 60 projects nationwide exceeding $12 billion in new construction since its inception in 2007.
“Construction and renovation are among the most complex and expensive projects hospitals undertake today,” said Mark Kearschner, director of Construction Services at Premier. “Our success is due to, in part, our hands-on, collaborative approach to the way we work with our members and their outside contracting and design resources.”
Benefits of Premier’s Construction Services program include:
- Access to goods and services at a lower cost and with complete pricing transparency;
- Large order clauses, which provide savings of up to 20 percent over top tier pricing;
- Free shipping on select agreements, providing additional savings of 5 to 7 percent;
- Identification of environmentally preferable contracts;
- Group buy opportunities that aggregate volume from multiple projects nationwide;
- Enhanced warranties and service agreements, allowing participants to lock in future savings; and
- Assistance with direct purchases, providing up to 20 percent savings as well as potential tax benefits.
Kearschner continued, “Our objective is to drive member savings on construction capital purchases through the utilization of contracted suppliers, as well as through access to Premier's capital equipment portfolio of facility information technology and clinical equipment. The program also provides participants with a forum for networking and knowledge sharing while helping track and report contracted supplier spend.”
Working with Premier, St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, realized more than $1 million in savings on purchases, not including those associated with medical equipment and furnishings, for the facility’s infrastructure renovation and new tower expansion.
“We have always been very focused on maximizing value in all of our hospital operations at St. Rita’s,” said Ron Connovich, former director of Facilities Planning and Plant Operations at St. Rita’s, a Catholic Healthcare Partners facility. “Because of their relationships with national account representatives, Premier construction and facilities staff played an important role in bringing us together with experts who had the knowledge and resources to best meet our long-term needs and offer insights into future trends.”
Connovich added, “The decision must be made early in the design phase – that’s the critical success factor. Once the decision was made to utilize Premier’s portfolio, it was seamless and easy.”
Premier Construction Services participants have access to more than 50 product and service categories representing more than 130 nationally recognized and industry leading manufacturers, distributors and service providers. The agreements cover virtually every category, from mechanical, electrical and plumbing, to furniture and fixtures.
Participants can easily monitor and access detailed information and specification sheets for 20,000-plus products from more than 1,600 suppliers in 2,400 categories through “WATCH,” a program that includes pre-loaded capital and construction contracts and pricing information. Complementary regional and local agreements may also be added to a participant’s portfolio.
The portfolio also includes construction management services, which provide design and build facilities; management assistance; capital equipment procurement; engineering; application and design assistance; risk assessments and construction planning; environmental (air quality) monitoring; and capital asset inventory assistance.
In addition to these products and services, participants have access to a host of critical tools and resources for education, training and planning, including:
- A dedicated website featuring education materials, capital equipment portfolios, case studies, white papers and best practices;
- A Construction Advisory Council composed of hospital representatives;
- Online capital budgeting, equipment planning, and capital demand aggregation tools through Attainia, the industry’s leading provider of capital budgeting and planning software;
- A unique, common work environment called “PLANS” for architects, contractors, equipment planners and other professionals;
- A program that easily allows project staff to manage routine annual capital budgeting processes and view real-time aggregated capital demand data;
- Ongoing tiered support, which includes aligning Premier contracted suppliers within member specifications for greater contract utilization;
- Follow-up site visits with participants, general contractors, architects and equipment planners;
- Staff training;
- Contract utilization tracking and spend validation; and
- An on-site project manager who provides specification and bid review, local negotiation assistance, contracted supplier volume tracking, ongoing evaluation of facility MRO purchases and needs, and conflict resolution with general contractors, architects and equipment planners early on in a project, which can be invaluable down the road as issues inevitably arise.
Source: http://www.premierinc.com/