Premier acquires two continuum of care GPOs

Premier, a healthcare improvement company, is to acquire Innovatix and Essensa Ventures, two care group purchasing organizations (GPO).

Premier already owns a 50 percent stake in Innovatix. GNYHA Holdings, an affiliate of the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), owns the other 50 percent of Innovatix and 100 percent of Essensa.

Innovatix is a supply chain solutions company and GPO serving more than 32,000 facilities in multiple classes of trade, including senior living facilities (assisted living, continuing care retirement communities, independent living and skilled nursing), independent medical oncologists and pharmacies.

Essensa is a national GPO delivering procurement solutions and supply chain efficiencies to classes of trade not served by Innovatix, including ambulatory care, surgery centers, imaging centers, behavioral/mental health clinics and clinical laboratories.

Both Innovatix and Essensa specialize in group purchasing in the continuum of care market, or institutional healthcare providers that are outside the acute care hospital or health system.

“This transaction complements Premier’s core supply chain services offering by expanding and consolidating our GPO capabilities into the high-growth continuum of care market,” said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier.

“As long-standing business partners with GNYHA, we will integrate these assets and customer segments with our existing continuum of care business and expect to achieve even greater scale for top-tier pricing in both the acute and non-acute markets.

“These capabilities are critical to address the changing needs of healthcare, where the drive toward population health management and lower cost of care requires a cross-continuum reach.”