Under the agreement, the 15 health systems committed to purchasing a portion of all face masks they use annually from Prestige Ameritech, based in Fort Worth, Texas, for up to six years.
Personal protective equipment is largely bought from overseas, with 80 percent coming from China and Southeast Asia, Premier said in a news release.
“With past outbreaks, such as SARS, H1N1 and Ebola, the nation talked about domestic manufacturing and expanding supply sources as the keys to preventing shortages, only to return to the same overleveraged overseas markets once the crisis was over,” said Michael Alkire, president of Premier, which is based in Charlotte, N.C. “This move is the latest step in our long-term commitment to changing the way we source critical products so that we never again experience shortages as a result of overreliance.”
The health systems included in the partnership are:
- AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.)
- Adventist Health (Roseville, Calif.)
- Advocate Aurora Health (Downers Grove Ill., and Milwaukee Wis.)
- Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.)
- Banner Health (Phoenix)
- Baptist Health South Florida (Miami)
- CommonSpirit Health (Chicago)
- Genesis Health System (Davenport, Iowa)
- Henry Ford Health System (Detroit)
- McLaren Health Care (Grand Blanc, Mich.)
- Riverside Health System (Newport News, Va.)
- St. Luke’s University Health Network (Bethlehem, Pa.)
- Texas Health Resources (Arlington, Texas)
- Universal Health Services (King of Prussia, Pa.)
- University Hospitals (Cleveland, Ohio)
Read Premier’s full news release here.
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