Novation Honored by Gartner, Inc. as a 2013 Business Intelligence & Analytics Excellence Award Finalist

IRVING, Texas, April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Novation, the leading health care supply chain expertise and contracting company for the members of VHA Inc., UHC, Children's Hospital Association, and Provista LLC, is proud to announce their selection as a finalist for the Gartner, Inc. 2013 Business Intelligence (BI) & Analytics Excellence Award in the North America.  The Gartner BI & Analytics Excellence Awards highlight world-class BI, Analytics and Performance Management initiatives and their successes, challenges and insights.  As a finalist, Novation was invited to present at the BI & Analytics Excellence Awards Keynote on March 19 at the Gartner Business Intelligence and Analytics Summit in Grapevine, Texas.

Novation, in conjunction with the VHA and UHC alliances, developed an entire suite of applications to address a hospital's entire supply chain process from start to finish by supporting member hospitals' connectivity across their supply chain operations.  The applications include price-benchmarking and cost-management analytics in the medical, surgical and pharmaceutical areas.  To allow member hospitals instant access and on-the-go decision support, Novation developed mobile versions of all their analytics applications.

"We were the first to launch a mobile BI supply chain application in the health care industry, and we continue to set the bar in the industry's mobile BI space," says Dan Sweeney, senior vice president, information and data services, Novation. "Helping hospitals drive down supply costs so they have more resources to dedicate to patient care is more important than ever.  Today's health care organizations are facing multiple financial challenges in a rapidly changing landscape.  We believe it's not sufficient to develop an application and sit back and watch. Instead, we regularly improve the user experience and enhance our BI and analytics offerings."

Novation has a strong track record of developing award-winning analytic applications.  For example, in 2011 Novation was recognized by MicroStrategy for Excellence in Enterprise-Class Business Intelligence.  In 2012, Novation was included on Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine's "100 Great Supply Chain Projects" list for its successful implementation of an innovative e-Sourcing solution. And, Novation was recognized as a 2012 Best Practice Award Winner in the Emerging Technologies and Methods category by The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI).

"In order to allow member hospitals instant and on-the-go decision support, we made all our analytics applications mobile," says Guillermo Ramas, vice president, information and data services, business development, Novation. "The value of any BI initiative – mobile or web, internal or external facing – is dependent on how much business value you can provide to the user. These apps allow procurement resources, pharmacists, physicians and internal field teams to make data-driven decisions on price, spend and other supply information in a mobile setting."

The identification of a Gartner Award winner or finalist is not an endorsement by Gartner of any vendor, product or service.

About Novation, Winner of the Ethics Inside® Certification
Founded in 1998, Novation is the leading health care supply chain expertise, analytics and contracting company for the more than 65,000 members of VHA Inc. and UHC, two national health care alliances, Children's Hospital Association, an alliance of the nation's leading pediatric facilities, and Provista, LLC. Novation provides alliance members with sourcing services, as well as information and data services. Based in Irving, Texas, Novation develops and manages competitive contracts with more than 600 suppliers. VHA, UHC, and Provista members used Novation contracts to purchase approximately $43 billion in 2012. Novation has earned the coveted Ethics Inside® Certification from Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think tank dedicated to the research and promotion of best practices in corporate ethics and compliance.  Novation was also named on Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies list, and is the only company in the health care industry to earn both distinctions for two consecutive years.  To learn more about Novation, please visit http://www.novationco.com and follow @NovationNews.

About Gartner BI & Analytics Summit 2013
The Gartner BI & Analytics Summit is the only event designed to provide businesses with the knowledge required to create visionary business intelligence and analytics strategies. This event focuses on the methodologies, strategies, technologies and architectures that will move organizations from the tactics of cost cutting and compliance to increasing their agility and responsiveness, and improving overall business performance. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/bi.

SOURCE Novation