Shriners Hospitals Extend Exclusive Agreement with Amerinet Inc.

St. Louis, Mo, October 20, 2005 – Amerinet Inc., one of the most innovative and effective health care group purchasing organizations (GPOs) in the United States, has renewed an exclusive agreement with Shriners Hospitals for Children. The renewal extends a previous agreement until April 30, 2009. Shriners Hospitals, headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has been providing quality health care to children since 1922.
The national account agreement renewal extends the opportunities for Shriners Hospitals across the country to realize significant cost savings through Amerinet's comprehensive contract portfolio and customized programs. “The outcomes that we continue to achieve through our partnership with Shriners have been consistent resulting in significant hard dollar savings,” stated Brent Christensen, Amerinet national account manager. “The primary areas of utilization include lab, diagnostic imaging, medical/surgical supplies, office supplies and have resulted in $525,000 of cost savings,” continued Christensen. “Additionally, the use of Amerinet Choice products, Amerinet’s own line of products, has resulted in a total annualized savings of more than $63,000 in 2005. Plus, additional savings were based on the dietary food program sharebacks that totaled more than $70,000 in 2005.”

“Shriners Hospitals have created a remarkable network of health care programs and services for children across our country by creating and fulfilling their philanthropic mission. We are very proud that they continue to choose Amerinet as their group purchasing organization based on the value received by their organizations,” said Robert P. Bowen, chief executive officer of Amerinet. “Amerinet understands the importance of assisting our members in improving their bottom line margins. We look forward to expanding our offerings to Shriners to include an organizational-wide standardization project to provide data management and analysis for their pharmacy departments.

About Shriners Hospitals for Children

Shriners Hospitals for Children is a network of pediatric specialty hospitals, founded by the Shrine, where children under the age of 18 receive expert medical care free of charge. Shriners Hospitals are located throughout North America with 20 in the Unites States, one in Mexico and one in Canada. These “Centers of Excellence” serve as major referral centers for children with complex orthopedic injuries, burns and spinal cord injuries. For more than 80 years, Shriners Hospitals for Children have provided some of the best medical care in the world, totally free of charge, to approximately 735,000 children. Today, more than 450,000 members of the International Shriners Fraternity support the network.

Source : Amerinet

Amerinet is the most innovative and effective health care group purchasing organization in the United States, leading the industry in flexibility with Amerinet's commitment to providing supplier choice for its members. Amerinet's national network of companies - Amerinet Central, Intermountain Health Care and Vector - has set the standard for customer service for nearly two decades. More than 1,900 hospitals and 33,000 non-acute care facilities find cost savings and value-added services through Amerinet's comprehensive contract portfolio. Members trust Amerinet to deliver proactive information and integrity and to help them save more through special programs and custom contracting opportunities.