HOUSTON, TX (May 25, 2010) – S/T Health Group Consulting, Inc., a pioneer in the hospital pharmacy cost-containment industry, has been awarded a multi-year agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners, LP, the group purchasing unit of Premier, Inc. The agreement will help reduce and avoid costs for members of one of the nation’s largest healthcare alliances in the United States.

The Contract Price Verification agreement will allow Premier member hospitals to have their pharmacy, materials management, laboratory and radiology purchases reviewed to identify and recover overcharges.

S/T Health Group was the first consulting group of its kind to focus on contract price integrity in healthcare.  Since 1998, S/T Health Group has worked to bring industry trading partners (wholesalers, manufacturers and group purchasing organizations) together to ensure that hospitals are paying the right price at the right time.

“The value we bring to the market lies in our understanding of the unique working relationship between pharma manufacturers, wholesalers, group purchasing organizations and the hospitals and healthcare networks themselves,” said Richard Tulio, President of S/T Health Group. “Analysis of purchasing, billing and utilization data is critical, but you also need to interpret and understand what the numbers are telling you. Our extensive experience enables us to see disconnects others can’t and deliver maximum cost savings to our clients.”

“For the past 3 years, we have been proud to provide pharmacy price verification services to our current customers that are Premier member hospitals and have been able to help them with substantial cost recovery. Because of our success in the pharmaceutical supply chain, a number of our customers have requested that we expand our services to help in other areas of the hospital.” said Tulio. “We are confident we can make a difference in their costs and help improve their bottom lines.”

About S/T Health Group

S/T Health Group is a privately held consulting company based in Houston, focusing on pharmaceutical cost containment services for healthcare providers. S/T Health Group provides data analysis services that help hospitals and healthcare systems contain or avoid costs in the pharmaceutical supply chain through price verification, contract compliance measurement and analysis of purchasing and utilization trends. For more information, please visit the company website: www.sthealthgroup.com.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals and 67,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. www.premierinc.com