Siemens awarded contracts for hemostasis, urinalysis and microbiology products

DEERFIELD — Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Monday announced new three-year agreements with Premier Purchasing Partners LP, the group purchasing unit of Premier Inc., for hemostasis, urinalysis and microbiology systems and reagents, and sole source contracts for Premier's ASCEND (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) program for the same product lines.

Premier serves the purchasing needs of more than 2,400 member hospitals and nearly 70,000 additional health care sites nationwide. ASCEND assists its nearly 200 member hospitals in their ongoing efforts to control costs through simplified purchasing processes, appropriate clinical utilization, and specially negotiated contracts.

The new Siemens contracts are in addition to six other agreements with Premier this year, providing members access to Siemens comprehensive portfolio of diagnostic systems, tests and automation solutions at a significant savings. The urinalysis and hemostasis agreements, which took effect on August 1, 2010, include the CLINITEK family of products and the entire portfolio of Siemens hemostasis instruments. The microbiology agreement will take effect on November 1, 2010 and cover purchases of the MicroScan family of products.

“We are dedicated to improving the health of communities by enabling hospitals to provide patients with reliable, high-quality health care at the lowest cost, said Mike Alkire, president, Premier Purchasing Partners.  “We're able to achieve this through our strong contractual agreements with suppliers who have a strong commitment to service while providing exceptional product portfolios.

“We are pleased to continue our long term relationship with Premier and offer their customers a broad portfolio of products, said Michael Reitermann, chief executive officer, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. “At Siemens we are focused on providing innovative solutions to meet the changing and growing needs of laboratories and clinicians worldwide.