AUGUST 11, 2021 – Walnut Creek, CA – Conductiv, the leading third-party spend optimization solutions provider and consolidated subsidiary of Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), today introduced Lumen, a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative created to enable its customers to identify and implement inclusive supplier sourcing strategies. Through education and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics technology, Lumen empowers Conductiv customers to efficiently increase spend with diverse suppliers, meet broader DEI goals and support local economies by choosing local, qualified and diverse suppliers for their third-party service needs.

Lumen’s concept and strategy was announced last August, and since then, local and regional contracts with diverse suppliers have been added to Conductiv Contracts ─ expanding members’ access to vetted, diverse agreements. Members in Conductiv’s network spend 1.35% on average with diverse suppliers across more than 178 categories. Lumen’s diversity analytics capabilities are broadly available, giving supply chains deeper, technology-enabled transparency into diverse, third-party services spend and providing actionable intelligence to strategically work toward enterprise-wide goals. This allows organizations to monitor their impact on an ongoing basis, target categories for improvement and report growth back to stakeholders.

“Lumen places healthcare providers at the forefront of improving the economic health of their communities by connecting them with diverse, locally qualified suppliers. Supporting these suppliers builds a stronger workforce and opens up opportunities for community-based collaboration on future contracts,” said Conductiv CEO Chris Gormley. “We intentionally integrated DEI improvement strategies within our Conductiv Analytics engine to elevate transparency and actionability within businesses, enabling supply chains to support more of their organizations’ mission-driven goals and focus on bringing diverse suppliers into the Conductiv Contracts portfolio.”

“We are at a tipping point in our society where there is increasing attention on our hospitals to focus on the social determinants of healthcare inequity,” said Joseph Machicote, Premier’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. “Lumen will help our members in their efforts to drive positive socioeconomic change, a key social determinant, in the communities where they serve by identifying opportunities for them to partner with their local MWBE, Veteran, LGBTQ+ and small businesses.”

In addition to creating a path to inclusive sourcing practices for supply chain organizations, Lumen lends its resources to local and diverse suppliers, connecting them with buyers at the right time and place of their sourcing lifecycle. Suppliers that use Lumen access a cost-effective way to grow their business with local and regional healthcare providers.

“HPC International, Inc., a Diverse supplier, joined Conductiv in April 2021. HPC is an integral partner with Conductiv and excited to increase awareness in Conductiv’s inclusive supplier strategies,” said Tammy Gauthier, Vice President of Corporate Finance & Operations at HPC International, Inc. “We’re thrilled to be part of Lumen to connect with mission-driven organizations in our area.”

A key focus of Lumen will be to deliver continuous education around the financial, population health and DEI benefits of employing inclusive third-party service providers. For more information, please visit https://conductiv.com/products/conductiv-platform/diversity-equity-inclusion

About Conductiv

Conductiv® empowers supply chains to optimize their third-party services. As the only end-to-end third-party lifecycle improvement company, Conductiv® shares its strategic sourcing expertise and category best practices with multiple industries including healthcare, hospitality, government, real estate, transportation and education. The company has led more than 700 bids for more than 120 organizations, exceeding $4 billion in contracted value. Member projects have generated $800 million of documented savings or an average savings value of 24% to date. To learn how supply chains are transforming their savings strategy, visit Conductiv.com.

About Premier

Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of more than 4,100 U.S. hospitals and health systems and approximately 200,000 other providers and organizations to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and consulting and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier 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. Please visit Premier’s news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com; as well as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Premier’s blog for more information about the company.