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PA Hospital Association, Healthcare Purchasing Partners International Sign Letter of Intent to Provide Group Purchasing Services

The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) and HealthCare Purchasing Partners International®, LLC(TM) (HPPI) today announced the execution of a Letter of Intent to enter into an agreement that will maintain and enhance hospitals' access to a broad array of industry-leading group purchasing agreements, with the strength of more than $27.5 billion in combined annual purchasing power.

The HAP-HPPI agreement follows the announcement that AllHealth has entered into an agreement with Amerinet Central for the sale of substantially all of its assets, including, but not limited to, its group purchasing operations. For the past nine years, HPPI had worked with AllHealth to provide members with significant supply chain cost savings.

"We are excited about this opportunity because it allows HAP members to work directly with HPPI and continue to access HPPI's industry-leading portfolio, while providing significant value and incentives that strengthen HAP's broader efforts for their members," said Dan Blucher, vice president of sales at HPPI.

"The HAP-HPPI agreement will yield significant benefits for our members and their patients," said Carolyn F. Scanlan, president and CEO of HAP. "In addition to providing our hospitals with a seamless transition from the expired AllHealth relationship, we expect this new arrangement to enhance hospitals' purchasing power in the marketplace -- yielding significant cost savings to the health care system and enhanced quality of care."

HealthCare Purchasing Partners International®, LLC(TM) (HPPI) is an Irving, Texas-based health care group purchasing organization serving more than 9,000 health care organizations across the nation. HPPI members used its contracts to purchase more than $2.5 billion in supplies in 2005. HPPI is owned by VHA Inc., a national health care cooperative, and the University Healthsystem Consortium (UHC), an alliance of academic medical centers. HPPI was formed by VHA and UHC to serve health care organizations that do not belong to either VHA or UHC. Additional information about HPPI is available online at www.hppigpo.com.

HAP is a statewide membership services organization that advocates for nearly 250 Pennsylvania acute and specialty care, primary care, subacute care, long-term care, home health, and hospice providers, as well as the patients and communities they serve. Additional information about HAP is available online at www.haponline.org.

Distributed by Market Wire