The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas has selected the Premier alliance of more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals as its group purchasing and supply chain services partner.

Formerly a member of Novation, UT Southwestern joins more than 200 of the nation's leading hospital and healthcare systems who own Premier Inc.

"We look forward to working with Premier to drive cost reductions through implementing not only their contracts but also their tools for standardization in our supply chain systems and hope to bring new cost efficiencies in our facilities," said Jim Wentz, associate vice president and chief financial officer for UT Southwestern Hospitals.

Premier will provide UT Southwestern market-leading group contracts -- including national, regional, and local contracting options -- as well as support from the Premier regional team, supply chain automation tools and access to supply chain benchmarking and performance improvement resources.

"We are excited to welcome the hospitals from one of the nation's great academic medical centers as Premier owners," said John Johnston, Premier region vice president. "UT Southwestern Medical Center adds to Premier's strong position in the fast-growing Dallas-fort Worth market. More important, we are now partners with one of the leading research and patient care centers. We look forward to working with UT Southwestern to make its supply chain system world class as well."