Strengthening Financial, Operational and Strategic Performance at Crouse Health

*:last-child]:mb-0 [&>*:last-child]:pb-0 [&>p]:font-normal text-left [&>.prm-button-bar]:justify-start [&_.portable-text-link]:font-semibold [&_.portable-text-link]:underline [&_.prm-button-bar_a]:no-underline [&_li]:text-light-gray [&_p]:text-light-gray">

Key Takeaways

• Crouse Health faced mounting financial and operational pressures driven by supply shortages, rising drug costs and the need for greater accountability and efficiency across pharmacy and supply chain operations.
• By expanding its partnership with Premier beyond traditional group purchasing organization (GPO) services to include advisory, data analytics, technology tools and executive collaboration, Crouse Health created a more integrated and data-driven approach to managing spend, contracts and operations.
• Crouse Health achieved measurable savings and performance improvements, including a $3.65 million first-year return from its 340B pharmacy program, $2.3 million in supply chain savings through the Premier SURPASS program, and $354,000 in implant savings with Premier's High Value Implant team, strengthening long-term financial resiliency and patient care delivery.

Crouse Health, a not-for-profit hospital serving more than 23,000 inpatients, and providing 56,000 emergency visits and over 600,000 outpatients annually across Central and Northern New York, has been part of the community for generations. Like many hospitals, Crouse Health faced unpredictable challenges in recent years, from supply shortages and rising costs to increasing pressure for accountability and efficiency.

To navigate these changes, Crouse Health has worked closely with Premier for the past seven years. What began as a traditional group purchasing organization (GPO) relationship evolved into a strategic, enterprise-wide collaboration spanning contracting, advisory services, pharmacy and technology. Together, the organizations have driven measurable improvements in efficiency, cost savings and long-term planning, helping Crouse Health strengthen its financial performance while supporting its mission of high-quality patient care.

Transforming Pharmacy Services into a Fully Integrated Pharmacy Enterprise

Rising medication prices, ongoing drug shortages and complex regulatory demands have placed significant strain on hospital pharmacy budgets and operations. Recognizing the need for a strategic reset, Crouse Health partnered with Premier's Pharmacy Advisory Services team to create a comprehensive pharmacy enterprise strategy.

Premier conducted a detailed assessment in 2023 and determined that Crouse Health qualified as a 340B Disproportionate Share Hospital, identifying potential savings of $2 million in annual drug expenses. Premier's pharmacy experts helped design and implement the 340B program in full compliance with Health Resources and Services regulations, resulting in a $3.65 million return on investment in the first year alone.

From there, the collaboration expanded to strengthen broader pharmacy operations. Premier deployed interim staff to meet workforce needs, established key performance indicators to measure progress, optimized the formulary and clinical practices, and implemented retail pharmacy and medication therapy management programs. These initiatives delivered $1.1 million in realized savings and identified an additional $1.2 million in future opportunities.

"We are proud of a very successful partnership with Premier, which has resulted in transformative outcomes across multiple domains," said Kevin Randall, Chief Financial Officer at Crouse Health. "Through our collaboration, we've achieved significant operational efficiencies, streamlined clinical processes and enhanced financial performance, all while maintaining regulatory compliance and improving patient safety."

With pharmacy services on solid footing, Crouse Health turned its focus to another major area for cost control and performance improvement: its supply chain.

Elevating Supply Chain Savings and Efficiency Through Commitment and Collaboration

As a longtime Premier GPO member, Crouse Health has always understood the value of group purchasing. But beginning in 2020, the health system took its commitment to the next level by joining Premier's AscenDrive program, which aggregates Premier's most committed GPO members to drive greater standardization and leverage across purchasing decisions.

Premier placed an onsite committed program expert at Crouse Health to help the team improve contract compliance, foster collaboration between finance and clinical stakeholders, and use data to drive decisions. The results were immediate: initial program savings reached $550,000, and contract compliance quickly exceeded 80 percent.

Encouraged by this success, Crouse Health joined Premier's SURPASS program in 2024, an even higher level of commitment designed to unlock deeper savings through organization-wide standardization. With Premier's support aligning efforts across procurement, finance and clinical departments, Crouse Health achieved over 90 percent contract compliance within one year, and to date has generated $2.3 million in savings across multiple service lines.

"These programs helped us with accountability and standardization in contracting," said Randall. "We've had more conversations about why certain contracts are in place and how they support different service lines. Those programs have helped us keep fiscal responsibility front and center across the system."

Equally important is the collaborative relationship behind the numbers that exists between Crouse Health and Premier.

"At first, it felt like a vendor relationship, but now it's more like an extension of our team," said Randall. "We work together on contracts, standardization and navigating shortages. It feels like a shared effort, not something separate, and that sense of teamwork has led to big wins."

Harnessing Data, Expertise and Leadership to Drive Smarter Decisions

Crouse Health's success in pharmacy and supply chain optimization has been amplified by its ability to turn data into action. Through Premier's SupplyAnalytics platform, Crouse Health visualizes spend, monitors inventory and evaluates performance across service lines, giving leaders real-time insights to inform daily decisions.

"The dashboards are visual and easy to use, which helps our busy service line managers make quick, informed decisions, which supports both the hospital and the broader partnership," said Randall.

That same data-driven approach now extends into specialty areas. In collaboration with Premier's High Value Implant (HVI) team, Crouse Health implemented dashboards that track implant use by physician and department, uncover pricing disparities, and identify standardization opportunities. Within a year, this work delivered $354,000 in savings on spine implants alone.

Premier's subject matter experts continue to collaborate closely with Crouse Health to interpret data, prioritize initiatives and sustain performance improvements. At the same time, executive engagement has ensured that these efforts remain strategic and aligned with organizational goals.

"Leadership engagement has been a game changer," said Randall. "These efforts really need to come from the top down. Having executives directly involved keeps the focus on strategy and accountability. Without that, it's easy to get stuck in routine discussions."

By combining analytics, expertise and leadership alignment, Crouse Health has built a culture of accountability and efficiency that extends from the supply room to the boardroom, reinforcing supply chain as a strategic function that supports both fiscal responsibility and patient care.

Looking Ahead: Building Ongoing Resiliency

Today, Crouse Health continues to expand its collaboration with Premier, exploring emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to support both patient care and operational efficiency.

"There are things that come up every day in healthcare that are unpredictable," said Randall. "Having a partner with a broad network means we can connect with others who've gone through the same thing. That ability to share ideas and experiences has been invaluable. When we run into an issue now, the next question is usually, 'How can Premier help?'"

Crouse Health's experience illustrates how a health system can evolve its supply chain and pharmacy strategies through collaboration, executive leadership and data-driven decision-making. Together with Premier, Crouse Health is building a more resilient and efficient organization that continues to meet the needs of its patients and community, both today and into the future.

For More:

• See how Premier's advisory experts can help your organization quickly pinpoint areas of improvement, unlock efficiency and improve outcomes with a Healthcare Rapid Assessment.