Premier's I.T. Services Committee, which is comprised of representatives from 18 Premier owner organizations, along with a multi-disciplinary task force with representatives from Premier's Cardiovascular and Imaging Committees, completed an exhaustive review of the suppliers in the Enterprise Image Management Solutions (EIMS) marketplace in 2007. As the Committee reviewed and compared Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) vendors, they considered multiple factors, including corporate stability, breadth and depth of products, services and support, multi-modality imaging capabilities, overall functionality, integration, life cycle, and cost. Considering the specified criteria and evaluation activities, in comparison with other potential suppliers in this category, the Premier I.T. Services Committee awarded a contract to Philips.

"Premier viewed our industry-leading cardiology and radiology solutions, including our unique business model for our Radiology PACS solution, as ones that many of its members would embrace," said Eli Rapaich, vice president of sales, Healthcare Informatics, for Philips Healthcare. "For example, our ability to build flexibility into the Radiology PACS agreement, taking into consideration the member's commitment to volume, contract length, capital, and other contract expenditures, allows us to customize a leading-edge solution to meet individual member needs."

Premier Imaging Committee member, Merle Peterson, director of Medical Imaging, Kettering Medical Center (Kettering, Ohio) stated; "We're very pleased that Philips worked with Premier to create an opportunity that affords even hospitals with limited individual negotiating power the ability to acquire advanced technology." Mr. Peterson also noted that having both the Philips Xcelera PACS and Philips iSite PACS solutions on the Premier contract will help Premier members streamline their evaluation and purchasing processes. "Knowing that Premier has done the legwork and pre-qualified Philips as a leading supplier of comprehensive image and information management solutions for cardiology and radiology instills confidence throughout the decision-making process."

In addition to Philips iSite PACS and Philips Xcelera PACS solutions, Philips Healthcare is on contract with Premier for CT, MRI, Molecular Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, PET and PET CT, RAD, RF, Surgery, and Cardiovascular products. Philips is also on contract for all ultrasound systems and nearly all patient monitoring products.

Philips Xcelera is a multimodality image management, analysis and reporting solution that organizes and provides access to images and data from key cardiology subspecialties. Featuring a user-friendly design, Xcelera offers an extensive range of integrated, advanced quantification applications on a common workspace. Philips Xcelera was named KLAS General Market Software Category Leader for Cardiology Reporting & Documentation in the 2007 Top 20 Year End Best in KLAS Awards report. To learn more about Philips Xcelera, visit www.medical.philips.com/xcelera.

Related news articles:

• Philips Healthcare's Profile

About Premier Inc., 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Serving more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 51,000-plusother healthcare sites, the Premier healthcare alliance and its members are transforming healthcare together. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates one of the leading healthcare purchasing networks and the nation's most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information. A subsidiary operates one of the nation's largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups. A world leader in helping healthcare providers deliver dramatic improvements in care, Premier is working with the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering people-centric, innovative products, services and solutions through the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 134,200 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of $42.5 billion (EUR 27 billion) in 2007, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, as well as lifestyle solutions for personal wellbeing. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.