2.20.2007 - 12:08pm ET

(CSRwire) WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2007--Wye River Group on Healthcare and the Premier healthcare alliance today announced a partnership to improve the health of communities by sharing best practices in various aspects of the delivery and finance of healthcare.

"The need for communities to tackle healthcare challenges at the local level is growing. What's been missing is a well organized resource that provides successful examples to follow," said Jon Comola, CEO of Wye River Group on Healthcare (WRGH) and the Foundation for American Health Care Leadership (FAHCL). "Premier and WRGH's shared goal is to create an online library that serves as the 'go-to' source for leaders from all sectors who are motivated to make a difference in the health of their communities."

The centerpiece of the partnership will be a Web-based repository of best practices from dozens of successful community based health initiatives from around the nation. Premier and the Wye River Group on Healthcare are compiling information now and will launch the site in August 2007.

Since 2001, WRGH/FAHCL have captured more than 80 examples of proven community collaboratives in a two-volume report titled, "Communities Shaping a Vision for America's 21st Century Health and Healthcare" (see www.wrgh.org).

Similarly, Premier has presented the Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award annually since 1992, providing $2.75 million in funding to 90 community organizations nationwide. The competition recognizes six not-for-profit organizations each year that have found creative ways to improve the health of medical underserved communities. One of the criteria for the Cares Award is the ability to replicate each program in other communities around the nation.

"Premier's core purpose is to improve the health of communities," said Premier President and CEO Richard A. Norling. "This project leverages both the knowledge we gain from our Cares Award applicants and our nationwide network of hospitals to achieve that purpose. We are pleased to participate in this partnership, which will allow us to provide content and expertise while WRGH can focus on effective execution of this project."

Many communities are not waiting for a national solution. Instead they have successfully executed initiatives that address issues of access, quality, cost, disparities, immunizations, prenatal child care and a host of others.

"These success stories can and should influence how we solve our healthcare challenges as a nation," Comola said. "Through this partnership, WRGH and Premier will develop and maintain an online library highlighting examples of best practices in community health improvement. The resource will catalogue best practices by issue and succinctly articulate the 'who, what, why and how' of each initiative. The Web-based resource will describe successes and learnings and allow others to quickly identify an approach that might be relevant for their community."

The library will offer information and tools necessary to initiate, manage and sustain constructive change including a community action guide. The guide offers easy access to templates, surveys and assessment tools as well as links to funding and professional expertise to help make collaborative efforts successful.

About Premier, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Serving 1,700 hospitals and 44,000 other healthcare sites, Premier Inc. 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. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

About Wye River Group on Healthcare and the Foundation for American Health Care Leadership

Wye River Group on Healthcare (WRGH) and its affiliate Foundation for American Health Care Leadership (FAHCL) are not-for-profit 501C3 forums for collaboration and open exchange of ideas to promote constructive healthcare system change. WRGH uses a dynamic process that enables it to stay ahead of the emerging trends in healthcare finance and delivery. Both organizations identify and advance ideas with broad application to healthcare policy and the market place, through multiple educational outlets.

For seven years this public policy group, representing virtually every major sector in healthcare, has served as a sounding board and an ad hoc advisory panel to bipartisan state and Congressional leadership, vetting healthcare financing proposals, quality initiatives and infrastructure concepts. The philosophical underpinning of WRGH is a desire to develop and articulate a market-driven vision for healthcare in America, while promoting public- private collaboration. Governments -local, state and federal - are critical in this framework.

Accountability, standard setting and a strong safety net are needed in a true system of healthcare. We believe that the best way to achieve these objectives is through public-private collaboration building on the many community-based partnerships between healthcare stakeholders throughout America that are successfully working to address what ails our healthcare system. For more information, visit www.wrgh.org.

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