Allina Hospitals & Clinics to Save on Commodity Supply Purchases Through Novation’s New Committed Portfolio

IRVING, Texas, May 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Allina Hospitals
& Clinics, which serves patients throughout Minnesota and
western Wisconsin, has simplified its commodity supply management
strategies with the help of VHA Inc, the national health care
network and Novation, VHA’s supply contracting company.  

Novation launched its new committed portfolio in January of
2011.  This portfolio offers savings on a variety of
high-spend commodity categories, including medical/surgical
products, laboratory distribution and others.

“Novation’s new committed portfolio provides us many benefits.
 Beyond the obvious price savings, this portfolio allows our
staff to concentrate their contracting efforts on more complex
product categories,” said Cheryl Harelstad, vice president supply
chain management at Allina.  “We have confidence that pricing
is being monitored on a constant basis and that we are saving both
time and money.”

Novation provides continuous price monitoring through
comprehensive analytics tools to ensure that contract pricing
remains advantageous for those participating in the committed
portfolio.  Initial analysis shows savings ranging from 2 to 8
percent for participating members.    

“The members of VHA, UHC and Provista have expressed great
interest in the new committed portfolio.  Because of the
diverse membership we serve, we are constantly looking for new and
innovative approaches to provide greater savings and efficiencies
for all members,” said John Thompson, vice president, strategic
programs at Novation.

About Novation

Founded in 1998, Novation is the leading health care supply
contracting company for more than 25,000 members of VHA Inc. and
the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), two national health
care alliances, and 5,500 members of Provista, LLC, representing
more than 30,000 sites. Novation provides alliance members sourcing
and information and

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