SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ICU Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICUI) today announced it has been awarded a 36-month contract with Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing unit of Premier Inc., for its hemodynamic monitoring products, which are mostly used in the critical care setting.  Effective July 1, 2011, the new agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier. In addition, ICU will be a single-source supplier of hemodynamic monitoring products to Premier's innovative ASCEND® (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavors) program, which is designed to help participating hospitals achieve and sustain rapid improvements in supply chain performance and efficiency.

"Premier is an organization that is focused on providing value to its members, and ICU is proud to partner with them by providing products that deliver proven clinical performance at significant cost savings," explained Mark Jorgensen, General Manager of National Accounts for ICU Medical. "Our extensive critical care product line joins the rest of ICU Medical's product portfolio—including I.V. therapy and oncology products—on national contract with Premier. In addition, our single-source agreement to provide critical care products through the ASCEND program means we can enhance the value delivered to the Premier's members even further."

In 2009, ICU Medical finalized acquisition of the former Abbot Critical Care product line from Hospira, which includes hemodynamic, vascular, and cardiac monitoring systems, latex-free catheters, pressure transducers, closed needleless blood conservation systems, and made-to-order angiography kits. The critical care product line augments ICU's complete portfolio that includes the industry's broadest line of needlefree I.V. connectors shown to help reduce hospital acquired bloodstream infections, customized I.V. and critical care sets and solutions to meet a wide range of clinical needs, and the world's only needlefree closed system transfer device for the safe handling of hazardous drugs needs—all of which are currently on contract with Premier.

Media Contact: Tom McCall
Vice President, Marketing
949-366-4368
tmccall@icumed.com

About ICU Medical, Inc: ICU Medical, Inc develops, manufactures and sells innovative medical devices used in vascular therapy, oncology and critical care applications. ICU Medical's products improve patient outcomes by helping prevent bloodstream infections and protecting healthcare workers from exposure to infectious diseases or hazardous drugs. The company's complete product line includes custom I.V. systems, closed delivery systems for hazardous drugs, needlefree I.V. connectors, catheters and cardiac monitoring systems. ICU Medical is headquartered in San Clemente, California.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient: Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and nearly 72,000 other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. http://www.premierinc.com

SOURCE ICU Medical, Inc.