Premier and St. Joseph Health invest in Bloodbuy

Bloodbuy Announces $3.75 Million Financing and Strategic Relationship with Premier

DALLAS (September 8, 2015) – Bloodbuy, a healthcare information technology company that operates a cloud-based platform connecting hospitals and blood centers nationwide, today announced it has closed a strategic funding round involving Premier Supply Chain Improvement, Inc., an affiliate of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), and St. Joseph Health. Bloodbuy will use funds to continue the rapid expansion of its integrated network of hospitals and blood centers, grow its team, and add new technology offerings.

In connection with the funding round, Durral Gilbert, President of Premier Supply Chain Improvement, and Nita Stith, Vice President of Finance and Supply Chain Strategy at St. Joseph Health, have joined Bloodbuy’s Board of Directors.

“We are very excited to align our organization with Premier and St. Joseph Health,” said Christopher Godfrey, founder and CEO of Bloodbuy. “We share a commitment to improving health outcomes and lowering care delivery cost through the thoughtful application of proven technologies, and the evolution of antiquated workflows. This arrangement affords us the ability to leverage key resources of the participating organizations and continue to bring our technology solutions to market in a powerful and deliberate way.”

Bloodbuy’s cloud-based platform is currently deployed at integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and blood centers across the country; enabling these organizations to optimize their blood procurement activities, with regard to lowering both cost and waste, while increasing access to high-demand blood products necessary for patient care.

“St. Joseph Health has a history of coming together with like-minded partners that provide innovative solutions to challenges in health care and that stir new thinking in how to deliver exceptional patient care,” said Annette Walker, incoming division president, St. Joseph Health. “We believe that Bloodbuy’s solution has the potential to be adopted by care delivery systems across the country and we’re excited to be part of it.”

In addition to the funding, Bloodbuy announced the formalization of a strategic relationship with Premier. The two organizations will collaborate to offer Bloodbuy’s technology solutions to Premier’s membership, which is comprised of approximately 3,600 U.S. hospitals and 120,000 other healthcare providers.

Gilbert said, “Because of rapid growth in blood product costs, they are a target for cost-cutting and aggressive use management for forward-looking health systems. Bloodbuy’s platform supports the work we’ve been doing with providers in this area as we focus on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the supply chain. The platform enables buyers and sellers to transact with price transparency, and provides a web-based interface to improve ordering efficiency, reporting and data analytics so our members can further reduce costs.”

Bloodbuy’s cloud-based platform has been recognized by the Harvard Forum on Healthcare Innovation for its ability to address key pain points facing the nation’s blood supply. The platform uses a series of proprietary algorithms designed to address the uneven geographic distribution of available blood supply, in real-time. By doing so, it enables the optimization of the supply chain relationships between the nation’s blood suppliers and the hospitals they serve; automating the redistribution of lifesaving blood products throughout the U.S. 

About Bloodbuy
Bloodbuy is a Dallas, Texas-based healthcare information technology company that develops and operates a cloud-based platform connecting hospitals and blood centers. Our technology works to address the uneven geographic distribution of available blood supply in real-time, and promotes price transparency by publishing blood product cost averages and other key market indicators for network participants. Bloodbuy facilitates enhanced interconnectivity and information exchange, which drive greater efficiency within this mission-critical healthcare vertical. Bloodbuy is a portfolio company of Dallas-based private equity firm HealthCap Partners, LLC.  To learn more, please visit bloodbuy.com

About Premier, Inc.
Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,600 U.S. hospitals and 120,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare. To learn more, please visit premierinc.com

About St. Joseph Health
St. Joseph Health (SJH) is a not-for-profit, integrated health care delivery system that includes 16 hospitals, physician organizations, home health agencies, hospice care, outpatient services and community outreach services. Founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, SJH remains rooted to the sisters’ traditions of assessing a community’s needs and adapting strategies to meet those needs. Today, SJH continues its work in the tradition of the sisters through its wide networks of outstanding services. In each region it serves, SJH reaches out to care for the poor and vulnerable, establishing and supporting many programs and services that benefit the community. To learn more, please visit stjhs.org