Bloomington, Ind. – Patients at more than 2,400 hospitals and 70,000 health care facilities will have access to Cook Medical’s line of diagnostic and interventional radiology products, including peripheral vascular and biliary stents, effective February 1, 2011. Cook announced today it has been awarded three new contracts with Premier Purchasing Partners, the group-purchasing organization of national health care alliance Premier Inc.
“With its established commitment to helping improve the quality and affordability of health care, Premier is a natural partner for Cook in its quest to deliver innovative solutions that will advance the treatment landscape,” said Pete Yonkman, Cook Medical’s executive vice president of strategic business units. “This latest agreement underscores the increased market demand for innovative solutions in the area of diagnostic and interventional radiology and new lines of treatment for vascular disease. We are pleased to bring our broad interventional radiology and peripheral vascular product offering — the largest and most complete of any contracted vendor — to Premier to help improve patient outcomes and help healthcare become more efficient.”
The agreements are a continuation of the growing relationship between Cook and Premier. The agreement will grant access to Cook’s full line of DIR products including guiding and diagnostic catheters and wire guides, and products for carotid and radial artery access. A new DIR agreement has also been inked for ASCEND™ (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor), a Premier program designed to help more than 200 participating facilities reach a new standard in supply chain performance and efficiency through simplified purchasing processes, appropriate clinical utilization, benchmarking, and specially negotiated contracts. The remaining agreements cover peripheral and biliary stents for facilities in the Premier alliance and ASCEND™ — respectively. This will include Cook’s line of balloon-expandable biliary stents as well as the Zilver® line of self-expanding peripheral vascular stents.
About Premier Inc.
The Premier health care alliance is more than 2,400 U.S. hospitals and 70,000-plus other health care sites working together to improve health care quality and affordability. Premier maintains the nation’s most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading health care purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Premier has offices in San Diego, Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington.
About Cook Medical
Founded in 1963, Cook Medical pioneered many of the medical devices now commonly used to perform minimally invasive medical procedures throughout the body. Today, the company integrates medical devices, drugs and biologics to enhance patient safety and improve clinical outcomes. Since its inception, Cook has operated as a family-held private corporation. For more information, visit www.cookmedical.com. Follow Cook Medical on Twitter @cookmedicalpr and @CookVascular.