Vizient Further Advances its Supplier Diversity Initiative through Agreement with ICIC

IRVING, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–For many years, Vizient
has been helping diverse suppliers refine their business
strategy to more effectively compete, prosper, and grow within the
health care supply chain. Today, the company announces it is expanding
its support of diverse suppliers through a new agreement with the Initiative
for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and their Inner City Capital
Connections program (ICCC). The agreement is expected to have a direct
impact on Vizient’s member hospitals’ ability to improve supplier
diversity in their individual supply chains and accelerate economic
growth in their local communities.

The ICCC program meets the unique needs of inner city entrepreneurs,
providing them with capacity-building executive education,
coaching/mentoring, connections to business networks and contracting
opportunities, and access to capital. The agreement with Vizient will
help to underwrite participation in the program for some of the more
than 1,000 businesses that will enroll this year.

“The ICCC program is perfectly aligned with Vizient’s supplier diversity
objective to champion inclusion of minority, women and veteran
businesses (MWVBEs) in our members’ supply chains which serves to
accelerate economic growth in their local communities,” said Shaleta
Dunn, senior director, program services, supplier diversity for Vizient.
“We are excited to be one of their Sustaining
National Partners and to support a program that has a proven
formula for advancing economic growth by delivering a powerful
combination of strategic insight, business acumen and entrepreneurial
training.”

“We are honored to partner with Vizient in our nationwide effort to
create sustainable small business ecosystems in many of America’s
largest cities where Vizient’s member hospitals play critical roles in
healthcare delivery and economic revitalization,” said Steve Grossman,
ICIC’s CEO. “Vizient is in a unique position to have a meaningful and
lasting impact on supplier diversity initiatives that create good-paying
jobs in our most underserved communities.”

As part of the agreement, Vizient and its member hospitals will nominate
MWVBE businesses to participate in ICCC, as well as ICIC’s other urban
business initiatives including the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
program, the Inner City 100, and Cultivate Small Business. In addition,
ICIC recently announced a formal partnership with SCORE, allowing ICIC’s
program participants and alumni to access ongoing mentorship and
coaching by leading executives from more than 300 chapters around the
country, a benefit which companies nominated by Vizient and its members
would also enjoy.

More information about Vizient programs for diverse suppliers can be
found at: https://www.vizientinc.com/Our-solutions/Supply-Chain-Solutions/Supply-Chain-Programs/Supplier-Diversity.

About Vizient, Inc.

Vizient, Inc., the largest member-driven health care performance
improvement company in the country, provides innovative data-driven
solutions, expertise and collaborative opportunities that lead to
improved patient outcomes and lower costs. Vizient’s diverse membership
base includes academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, community
hospitals, integrated health delivery networks and non-acute health care
providers and represents approximately $100 billion in annual purchasing
volume. The Vizient brand identity represents the integration of VHA
Inc., University HealthSystem Consortium and Novation, which combined in
2015, as well as MedAssets’ Spend and Clinical Resource Management (SCM)
segment, including Sg2, which was acquired in 2016. In 2018, Vizient
again received a World’s Most Ethical Company designation from the
Ethisphere Institute. Vizient’s headquarters are in Irving, Texas, with
locations in Chicago and other cities across the United States. Please
visit www.vizientinc.com
as well as our newsroom,
blog,
Twitter,
LinkedIn
and YouTube
pages for more information about the company.

Contacts

Vizient, Inc.
Angie Boliver, 972-830-7961
angie.bolover@vizientinc.com