Merck And Premier Join Hands To Prevent Fractures For Osteoporosis Patients

Merck & Co. Inc. MRK and Premier Inc. PINC joined hands to collaborate on the co-development of solutions to support enhance health of the population. The two companies would focus on reducing fracture rates for at-risk osteoporosis patients at the initial stage.

According to Merck, the collaboration agreement integrates expertise, as well as assets from it and Premier's performance improvement framework and analytics, Premier's alliance of health systems, and other healthcare leaders to jointly develop and test effective solutions. The objective is to help enhance patient care and wellness, and lower healthcare spending.

Premier COO, Michael Alkire, said, "This strategic collaboration presents a tremendous opportunity to create solutions that accelerate change in an industry that is addressing preventative care through new patient-centric quality improvement and alternative payment models."

He continued, "Together, Premier and Merck will work alongside providers to develop and assess solutions that promote wellness and better care for specific groups of at-risk patients across the continuum, a central goal for all healthcare stakeholders. We are excited to begin this work and look forward to identifying opportunities to apply the insights gleaned from these initiatives."