Feb. 26, 2008

One part of AAHSA's mission is to increase the value of your membership. We know that balancing your bottom line isn't easy, and that much of budget goes to purchasing goods and services. You deserve to receive the most value for every dollar you spend. That's why we established our Group Purchasing (GP) program close to a decade ago. Well over half of our members now participate in this program. Many experience savings that pay for the cost of their dues many times over.

In our increasing tight economic times when cost control is essential, we are expanding and enhancing our Group Purchasing Program to bring bigger savings to our members. As you know, programs like Group Purchasing are based on high volumes that allow us to negotiate lower prices. Therefore, we are aligning with a much larger GP program called MedAssets Supply Chain Systems.

Based in Atlanta, MedAssets is one of the largest Group Purchasing programs in the country. MedAssets already serves hundreds of AAHSA members in addition to several thousand other health care providers. Our current program negotiated dozens of contracts on your behalf. Our alignment with MedAssets will bring hundreds negotiated on your behalf.

The genesis of this relationship was the idea of John Duling, who is the vice president of purchasing at Sunnyside Communities in Harrisonburg, Va. John has been an AAHSA member for decades and recently joined MedAssets. John contacted us about the possibility of a new relationship that's just been finalized.

If you're currently enrolled in our Group Purchasing program, you can start saving immediately. Take something simple, like soap. When it comes to paying for this product, MedAssets' agreement with one of our former vendors will take nine percent off the discounted price we could offer you. The transition in our relationship should be seamless to you.

If you aren't enrolled, take an idea from John and me. Visit the "Group Purchasing/Shared Services" section of the AAHSA Web site to learn more about this relationship and how it could potentially lower your costs. You'll be receiving more information in the next couple of days about the program.

AAHSA's mission is two-fold: to increase the value of membership and create the future of aging services. Our relationship with MedAssets is the newest way we can increase the value of membership to the extent it will all help us fulfill our stewardship responsibilities so we can create the future of aging services.


William L. Minnix, Jr.
AAHSA President & CEO


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