Dade Behring and Premier Collaborate to Make Laboratory Products Available to 1,900 Member Hospitals Via the Internet

DEERFIELD, Ill. and CHICAGO, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Dade Behring Inc., and Premier, Inc., today announced they will collaborate on an Internet-based purchasing and information initiative aimed at making Dade Behring laboratory products available to the approximately 1,900 member hospitals of Premier through medibuy.com, Premier's exclusive e-commerce marketplace.

The systems currently in place for ordering supplies in many hospitals and healthcare organizations throughout the United States are highly manual and require substantial staff time to operate, track orders and monitor inventory. This collaborative effort promises to reduce staff time, increase purchasing efficiencies and lower overall procurement costs.

"Maintaining our position as today's best resource for the laboratory means using eBusiness technologies to drive efficiencies for both suppliers and customers,'' said Steve Barnes, chief executive officer, Dade Behring. "Our collaboration with Premier on this new system builds on our existing strong links and is the natural next step in helping them create value for their members. We are committed to continuing our teamwork as the system rolls out and to responding to their members' needs. Dade Behring has always taken a proactive stance when it comes to dealing with our customers. Close collaboration with Premier and medibuy.com towards increasing healthcare supply chain efficiency is a natural step for us.''

"Premier has selected medibuy.com's e-commerce solutions to complement and provide electronic infrastructure in support of group purchasing and to begin to address the enormous waste within the healthcare supply chain,'' said Herb G. Johnson, executive vice president of Premier. "Offering the extensive Dade Behring product line electronically through medibuy.com -- at Premier pricing and terms for our members -- increases the value of the relationship even further.''

Premier, through its Purchasing Partners supply chain services organization, develops group buying arrangements for use by its member hospital and health systems. These group arrangements include both group contracts with set pricing and organized buys targeted to market dynamic pricing. The purchasing program uses medibuy.com for electronic commerce infrastructure and applications, as well as tools that can be used to budget, source and purchase supplies, services and equipment used by the healthcare industry. medibuy.com provides buyers and suppliers with a secure and real-time exchange to access information and conduct commerce relating to products, transactions and market trends.

About Dade Behring

With 1999 revenues of $1.3 billion, Dade Behring is among the largest clinical diagnostics companies in the world, making it today's best resource by offering a wide range of products and systems for diagnostics testing. The company's products are used in clinical chemistry, immunochemistry, cardiac diagnostics, microbiology, plasma-protein testing, infectious-disease testing, therapeutic-drug monitoring and drugs-of-abuse testing, as well as hemostasis. Headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., the company has operations in 40 countries. Additional company information can be found on the Internet at www.dadebehring.com .

About Premier

Premier, Inc., which has offices in San Diego, Calif., Chicago, Ill., Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D. C, is a nationwide strategic alliance of not-for-profit hospital and healthcare systems. The alliance comprises approximately 1,900 hospital facilities in 50 states. Premier, through its various subsidiaries and related companies, provides its members an array of services including comprehensive supply chain management services. Hospitals and other healthcare providers purchase approximately $12 billion annually through Premier group buying arrangements. For more information, please visit www.premierinc.com.