VHA inks new membership deals

Healthcare cooperative VHA Inc. and Temple University Health System (TUHS), of Philadelphia, have expanded their affiliation.

Estimating that its total annual purchasing volume through the VHA will reach nearly $80 million, TUHS says it will increase its acquisition of medical-surgical supplies, pharmaceuticals, capital equipment, food products, lab equipment and other supplies through Novation, VHA's supply company.

In 2002, Temple purchased more than $37 million through VHA, which the company says were mostly medical-surgical supplies.

In related news, VHA has selected Riverside Medical Center of Kankakee, Ill., to become a joint shareholder.

Riverside purchased more than $10 million in products and services through VHA and Novation in 2002. The healthcare center says it saved more than $680,000 on those purchases and realized almost $800,000 in total value through the cooperative, based on savings on supplies and services and cooperative distributions.

The addition of Riverside tallies VHA's membership to a total of 128 shareholder organizations and 346 partner organizations among its 2,200 member organizations.

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