Lake Forest, IL (Aug. 1, 2011) - Kirby Lester, LLC, the world's leading pharmacy automation provider, has been awarded a contract for outpatient pharmacy dispensing automation from Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing unit of the Premier healthcare alliance.

The Premier membership includes more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 75,000-plus other healthcare sites. Premier's mission is "to improve the health of communities." As a group purchasing organization, Premier's goal is to unite the healthcare system to enable hospitals to provide patients with reliably high-quality healthcare at the lowest cost. Premier's members will now have access to Kirby Lester dispensing automation at negotiated pricing.

Kirby Lester provides a full line of innovative technology for outpatient pharmacies. Kirby Lester offers solutions for outpatient pharmacies processing 100 prescriptions per day up to thousands of prescriptions per day — from the world’s most trusted tablet counting device to the world's only compact, affordable robotic dispenser.

"Premier went through an exhaustive one-year review period that included corporate visits, system demonstrations and a formal RFP process. The award was made by Premier members serving on the National Pharmacy Committee. We are delighted to be selected to work with a recognized leader in group purchasing for the next three years," says Garry Zage, R.Ph, Kirby Lester's President and CEO.

Premier members have access to preferred terms starting immediately.


About Kirby Lester
Kirby Lester is the world's leading pharmacy automation provider. Established in 1971, Kirby Lester maintains the largest market share of automatic tablet/capsule counter sales in the United States, plus 40 other countries. More Kirby Lester counters are used to dispense prescriptions in retail, mail order, hospital and long-term care pharmacies and manufacturing facilities than all other automated dispensing systems combined; over 40,000 pharmacies worldwide rely on Kirby Lester for their counting needs...exactly! For more information, contact Kirby Lester at 847.984.3377 or www.kirbylester.com.


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 75,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, 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 has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. www.premierinc.com.