Here are eight of the largest independent group purchasing organizations in the United States, ranked by number of hospitals served.
1. Novation, Dallas, Texas – 2,911 hospitals (1,400 through VHA, 300 in University Health Consortium and 1,011 in Provista) as well as 22,000 other members. Through its affiliations with VHA, UHC and Provista, Novation purchases $37.8 billion a year and covers 40 percent of the staffed beds in the United States, 45 percent of U.S. and 47 percent of nation’s total surgeries. It maintains agreements with more than 600 suppliers and distributors, representing nearly 90 percent of the products that healthcare organizations purchase. www.novationco.com
2. Amerinet, St. Louis— 2,570 hospitals and more than 40,000 non-acute care facilities. Amerinet saved its members more than $992 million in 2009 in contracts with 1,000 suppliers. Delivering an average of 4 to 7 percent savings per member, the company takes an active role in identifying realistic and actionable opportunities for contract savings and product standardization. Established in 1986, Amerinet is privately owned by Administrative Resources and Intermountain Healthcare. Amerinet has four subsidiaries: Amerinet Choice, Amerinet's own product line; Amerinet Diagnostix, involved in supply chain improvement initiatives; DataBay Resources, providing market analysis systems; and Inquisit, which provides educational seminars and workshops. www.amerinet-gpo.com
3. Premier, Charlotte, N.C. — 2,500 hospitals and nearly 70,000 other healthcare sites. Premier is owned by more than 200 not-for-profit hospitals and healthcare systems, with strong representation from community hospitals as well as large systems and academic medical centers. Premier also provides spend analytics, clinical resource management and consulting services. www.premierinc.com
4. MedAssets, Atlanta — 1,700 hospitals and 40,000 non-acute care customers. This for-profit, publicly traded company says customers can potentially increase net patient revenue by 1-3 percent and decrease supply expense by 3-10 percent. MedAssets also provides revenue cycle management services to hospitals that may contract for purchasing at another GPO. www.medassets.com
5. The Broadlane Group, Dallas — 1,100 hospitals and 50,00 non-acute care facilities. The Broadlane Group is a for-profit, private company founded by former materials management executives at Tenet. In addition to GPO services, the company offers capital equipment solutions, workforce management, process improvement, equipment management and consulting on supply chain and surgical specialty preference. www.broadlane.com
6. HealthTrust Purchasing Group, Brentwood, Tenn. — 1,400 hospitals and 2,600 other sites. This for-profit, private company was founded in 1999 by the former materials management team at HCA. Since it was founded, membership has tripled to 4,000 with a volume of $17 billion. HealthTrust also has initiatives in medical device sourcing, supply chain consulting, spend analytics and staffing management. www.healthtrustcorp.com
7. Consorta, Schaumburg, Ill. — 530 hospitals and 300 extended care facilities. Founded in 1998 as a non-profit cooperative, Consorta is owned by 11 Catholic health systems representing half of all Catholic hospitals. It spent just 24 cents of every revenue dollar on operations in 2007, the latest reported year. In its first nine years, total cash returns to shareholders and members exceeded half a billion dollars. www.consorta.com
8. Child Health Corporation of America, Shawnee Mission, Kan. — about 54 children's healthcare systems. This company is a business alliance of U.S. children's hospitals, representing $14 billion in revenue and $1.8 billion in medical, surgical and pharmaceutical products. The goal of its Group Purchasing Services division provides the greatest access to specialized pediatric products. Other divisions include improvement services, insurance services, the CHEX Knowledge Exchange and the Executive Institute. www.chca.com