Premier Inc. First to Receive NCQA Certification for Electronic Clinical Quality Measures

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is pleased to announce that Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is the first company to receive NCQA’s new Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQM) Certification. This designation verifies Premier’s ability to automate pulling out and reporting of electronic clinical data used for HEDIS^® (Healthcare Effectiveness Data Information Set) measures as well as measures reported in CMS EHR incentive programs.

“We look forward to connecting payers and providers on this improved process, which can reduce reporting challenges and allow all parties to focus on the real goal of improving patient outcomes.”

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“We applaud Premier for taking the bold first step in what will be a revolutionary component in health care data collecting and measurement,” says Margaret E. O’Kane, President, NCQA. “This certification represents the highest and most rigorous standard in data validation, and is a signal to the industry that we are pushing clinical data collection and reporting through a streamlined, verified electronic process to support our quality measurement programs. It also lays the groundwork for NCQA to offer similar services for our quality measurement programs, such as Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition.”

HEDIS is a comparative tool developed by NCQA and used by more than 90 percent of America’s health plans to measure performance in important dimensions of population health, including tracking immunizations, screenings and other preventive interventions in adult and pediatric patient populations. HEDIS reporting, which is required for NCQA Accreditation, enables employers, consultants and consumers to compare the performance of health plans on an “apples-to-apples” basis.

NCQA’s new eCQM Certification endorses technology companies that can accurately calculate eCQMs and demonstrate the ability to transfer clinical data collected for HEDIS reporting. Companies must meet a rigorous technology test for data validation and data file content, and demonstrate that they can accurately calculate eCQMs.

Health plans and provider organizations will soon be able to access Premier’s secure, cloud-based registry platform to begin streamlining their data workflow for HEDIS and avoid the need for expensive manual chart review and additional audit tasks.

The automated data collection process also enables providers and payers to access prospective views of their performance, which can inform initiatives aimed at improving patient care. Premier’s experience in quality assessment, advanced analytics and scaling performance improvement solutions will be key components of its eCQM HEDIS program.

“With most payers and providers burdened by labor-intensive and costly manual methods to extract HEDIS data, this designation is a significant differentiator for Premier. It highlights how our open technology platform can proficiently, efficiently and effectively interoperate with EHRs and other electronic systems to collect accurate, detailed data on quality measures and deliver results,” said Leigh Anderson, Senior Vice President and Chief information Officer at Premier. “We look forward to connecting payers and providers on this improved process, which can reduce reporting challenges and allow all parties to focus on the real goal of improving patient outcomes.”

As the first company to meet this higher standard for electronic extraction and reporting in the coming month, Premier will work closely with its member hospitals, health systems and EHR partners to ensure that an accurate and usable data feed is electronically transmitted to payers through its integrated PremierConnect^® platform.

NCQA received notice from the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) that our eCQM certification testing will be accepted as an equivalent test under the Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) for the Meaningful Use (MU) program. We believe this acknowledgement by ONC is a positive step to ease certification burden for HIT vendors and enables providers the ability to report MU measures from systems that pass a much higher standard of data quality than previously existed.

Vendors who want to participate in the NCQA program can obtain more information and an application through the eCQM Web site.

Health plans, health systems and providers interested in participating in Premier’s eCQM HEDIS program can obtain information by contacting Premier.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS^®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA’s Web site (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

About Premier Inc.

Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading national healthcare improvement company. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier unites approximately 3,600 U.S. hospitals and 120,000 other providers. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier’s mission is to transform American healthcare. For more information, visit Premier’s news and investor sites on premierinc.com; as well as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Premier’s blog.