The PINC AI™ Applied Sciences (PAS) team, a division of PINC AI, the technology and services platform of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), and Mölnlycke, a world-leading medical solutions company, today announced the initiation of a clinical trial to evaluate the value of hospital-wide patient bathing and the impact of specialized protocol training, education and compliance auditing on reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

This clinical trial will tap a subset of Premier’s integrated and aligned provider network to test interventions. In addition, the trial will rely heavily on PINC AI’s 20 years’ worth of anonymized inpatient, outpatient, clinic and ambulatory data to assess the cost, quality and operational implications of change. In addition, PINC AI’s clinical surveillance technology, TheraDoc® will be used to help identify, document, report and control HAIs.

“Our collaboration with Mölnlycke is hard proof that PAS has built a unique combination of aligned health system partners, predictive technology and deep measurement data, a winning combination enabling better, faster answers to key research questions,” said Denise Juliano, Group Vice President, PAS. “Today, research shows that it can take up to 17 years before best practice becomes standard practice. PAS exists to dramatically cut that time back with innovative research solutions that enhance clinical performance and promote better, more equitable health outcomes.”

This multi-center clinical trial will evaluate the rate of house-wide HAIs when introducing the use of a chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) house-wide bathing protocol coupled with a protocol compliance audit program against results from a CHG bath in the ICU only. CHG bathing in high-risk patients and settings has been the evidence-based standard for many years. The trial strives to produce timely evidence and determine whether a broader implementation of the protocol is effective for improved patient outcomes using real-world results.

HAIs have a direct effect on patient outcomes and mortality, costing healthcare systems $9.8 billion dollars each year. HAIs are infections that weren’t present at the time of admission and could have been acquired from other patients, hospital staff or the hospital facility. The risk is higher among patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), with one point prevalence study concluding that about 19.5 percent of patients in the ICU had at least one HAI.

HAIs are also a focus of several quality measure initiatives, including the hospital value-based purchasing and the hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) programs. In addition, the law requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to publicly post hospitals' performance on HAC quality measures. HAIs include, but are not limited to, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), surgical site infections (SSI), hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and Clostridium difficile infections (CDI).

“We are excited about this collaboration to research the impact of house-wide bathing protocols on HAIs,” said Dr. Tod Brindle, PhD, MSN, RN, CWCN, Global Surgical Medical Director, Mölnlycke. “This clinical trial represents the first step in developing protocols and compliance programs for use across hospitals and health systems to impact the incidence of HAIs. We are eager to review the evidence-based results and help improve outcomes.”

Financial results from the partnership were not disclosed and are not projected to have a material impact on Premier’s FY22 financial results.

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Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Premier to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “plans” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include comments as to Premier’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside Premier’s control. More information on potential factors that could affect Premier’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Premier’s periodic and current filings with the SEC and available on Premier’s website at investors.premierinc.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise that occur after that date.

About Mölnlycke

Mölnlycke is a world-leading medical products and solutions company that equips healthcare professionals to achieve the best patient, clinical and economic outcomes. Mölnlycke designs and supplies products and solutions for use in wound treatment, pressure ulcer and infection prevention and surgery. Mölnlycke’s products and solutions provide value for money supported by clinical and health economic evidence.

Mölnlycke employs around 7,500 people and is owned by Investor AB. The company headquarters are in Gothenburg, Sweden and operates in 90 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit www.molnlycke.com.

About PINC AI

PINC AI™ is the technology and services platform of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC). Made up of 20 years’ worth of cost, quality and operational data gleaned from 45 percent of U.S. hospital discharges, as well as 812 million hospital outpatient and clinic encounters and 131 million physician office visits, PINC AI provides actionable intelligence that improves outcomes, supports improved financial performance and enables success in new, alternative payment models. PINC AI offerings rely on advanced analytics to identify improvement opportunities, consulting services for clinical and operational design, and workflow solutions to hardwire sustainable change. With a leading network of provider organizations, PINC AI accelerates ingenuity and serves as a large-scale innovation catalyst in healthcare. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., PINC AI can be followed on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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