Research
The record, written up.
Long-form pieces from the public record, a source on every claim. Court filings cited here are free to read in the litigation library. Pieces marked for subscribers open with a preview.
GPO Intel Weekly, free edition
The week in group purchasing, analyzed. Each headline and its two facts, every week; the full pieces are for subscribers.
SubscribersMedline is exiting every Medline Brand bed. On October 24 it added a repair path to replacement and refunds for beds bought in the last five years.On October 21, 2026, Medline told the SEC it had begun a voluntary field action covering the removal, discontinuation and market exit of all Medline Brand beds: homecare, bariatricNon-acuteSubscribersA Bon Secours Mercy affiliate is buying Surgery Partners, a HealthTrust member. Bon Secours runs its own GPO.On October 26, 2026, HealthSpan Partners, an affiliate of Bon Secours Mercy Health, agreed to buy Surgery Partners for an enterprise value of about $5.7 billion and take it privateSubscribersCencora is buying 350 oncology prescribers for $2.4 billion. Its own 10-K says ten customers are 66 percent of its revenue.On October 21, 2026, Cencora signed a definitive agreement to acquire American Oncology Network, a physician led network of more than 350 oncology providers across 21 states, at anM&AContracts & awardsNon-acuteMarket EditionThe Big Three GPOs ComparedEditor's note, from GPO Intel: contributed by a member of the GPO Intel expert network and published as written. The author advises a private equity firm; the views are his own. ChAIM&ALeadershipMarket EditionVizient’s private label spans more than 14,000 line items. The antitrust case that ended on October 5 never examined it.Vizient's Novaplus private label spans more than 14,000 line items across 130 contracts. The antitrust case that ended on October 5 was told the label competes with the suppliers VLitigationMembershipFees & economicsAnalyzing GPO awards season after Premier's Breakthroughs: Vizient rewrote its award criteria, and Premier rewarded pricing predictabilityPremier closed GPO awards season at Breakthroughs 26 on October 8, its first as a private company, giving its Trailblazer Award for a GPO supplier to Stryker for helping "enhance pContracts & awardsNineteen of the twenty-two jobs managing a supplier's GPO relationship sit on the supplier sideGPO Intel can read the job boards of 24 of the 254 GPOs, distributors, manufacturers and health systems it tracks, once health systems are set aside.AIHiringCoreTrust added members for fifteen months and none of them were spending membersCoreTrust's homepage carried two member counts side by side for fifteen months: total members and spending members.Contracts & awardsMembershipSubscribersYankee Alliance is winding down. Neither it nor Pandion has named a destination for the acute membership.Yankee Alliance announced a planned wind down on September 29, 2026. Members and services move to "new strategic partnerships" from January 1, 2027, and the release does not name aM&ALeadershipMembershipSubscribersPandion bought Yankee's non-acute business ten weeks after raising money to buy things. It is Yankee's second sale in two years.Pandion Optimization Alliance has agreed to acquire Yankee Alliance's non acute affiliate business. Pandion announced a multi hundred million dollar commitment for acquisitions tenM&AMembershipNon-acuteSubscribersPremier put AI under a new chief officer. Vizient put $1 billion behind it.Premier and Vizient both announced AI work this week. Premier hired a Chief AI and Analytics Officer and put him in a new center reporting to the chief executive.AIM&ALeadershipSubscribersVizient acquires SxanPro, a Grand Rapids startup whose app scans supplies on hospital shelves for expiration dates and recalls. GHX, Cardinal Health and Owens & Minor already own similar capabilitiesVizient closed on SxanPro on September 17. SxanPro is a 2019 Grand Rapids startup; its founder stays on as vice president. GHX, Cardinal Health and Owens & Minor already own comparM&ASubscribersEd Jones joins RoundTable. Six GPO chiefs have left since 2015; none returned to the GPO worldSix GPO chief executives have left since 2015. From public records: none returned to the GPO world, and none to a health system.LeadershipSubscribersVizient's supplier awards land Tuesday night; Premier's Breakthroughs moves to October, its first as a private companyVizient meets in Las Vegas from Tuesday; its supplier awards are Tuesday night, and last year the release followed the next morning with Baxter and Philips taking two awards each.LeadershipContracts & awardsSubscribersSourcewell renews its Arizona construction contract, its third state this yearGordian announced the renewal on September 17, the third state this year. The contract lets Arizona local governments, schools and nonprofits buy repairs, renovations and constructContracts & awardsSubscribersHSCA names HPS's Michelle Pleiness board chair, succeeding Capstone's Tim BuggHSCA, the GPO industry's Washington trade association, named Michelle Pleiness of HPS its board chair on September 14. She replaces Tim Bugg of Capstone Health Alliance. The changeLeadershipMembershipSubscribersPremier and the Alliant lawsuits: where the record standsTwo federal cases and an arbitration, all on hold while the parties negotiate. The next report to the court is due by November 30. Here is what has been decided, what has not, and LitigationContracts & awardsSubscribersWhat Premier Actually Sold, and What It KeptTeardown 7 — What Premier Actually Sold, and What It Kept The agreement that priced the divestiture was never sealed and never fought over.LitigationM&AContracts & awardsSubscribersThe Escape Hatch: The Clause That Lets a Sponsor Walk Around Its Own GPOTeardown 1 — The Escape Hatch: The Clause That Lets a Sponsor Walk Around Its Own GPO Somewhere in your files is an agreement you signed with a GPO, and you believe you know what iLitigationContracts & awardsFees & economicsSubscribersThe August 17 Status Report: The Full AnalysisAlliant, Premier and OMNIA tell the court the talks are still going — and ask for fourteen more days Joint status reports landed in both Western District of Kentucky cases on AugusLitigationThe August 17 Status Report: What It SaysStill talking: Alliant, Premier and OMNIA ask the court for fourteen more days Joint status reports filed in both Western District of Kentucky cases on August 17 announce neither aLitigationContracts & awardsDo You Know Which GPO You're Actually Buying Through? These Two Companies Didn't Agree Either — and Now It's in Federal Court.Two lawsuits, one arbitration, three unsealed contracts, and a status report due to a federal judge by August 17. The whole story, sourced to the docket, in ten minutes.LitigationContracts & awardsFees & economics