Healthcare Insights
Top 25 regional purchasing coalitions
A Regional Purchasing Coalition (RPC) generally consists of healthcare providers leveraging their collective purchasing power to lower prices on necessary supplies. While some RPCs affiliate with Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), many are independent.
The following list details the top 25 RPCs by the number of member hospitals and member hospital net patient revenue (NPR).
Top 25 regional purchasing coalitions by number of member hospitals
Rank |
Purchasing Organization |
State |
# Of Member Hospitals |
Member Net Patient Revenue |
1 |
Capstone Health Alliance |
NC |
231 |
$35,368,793,895 |
2 |
Acurity |
NY |
224 |
$71,503,207,380 |
3 |
Vizient - Captis |
MN |
207 |
$40,532,422,984 |
4 |
Illinois Health and Hospital Association |
IL |
175 |
$30,942,108,829 |
5 |
Children’s Hospital Association |
KS |
155 |
$61,427,231,447 |
6 |
Vizient - Mid-America Service Solutions LLC |
KS |
151 |
$19,547,951,029 |
7 |
Yankee Alliance |
MA |
124 |
$28,028,373,144 |
8 |
Vizient Southern States |
GA |
103 |
$22,210,765,708 |
9 |
Vizient - Partners Cooperative Inc |
GA |
82 |
$22,772,455,164 |
10 |
Quorum Purchasing Advantage |
TN |
78 |
$5,120,484,621 |
11 |
Associated Purchasing Services |
KS |
65 |
$6,073,686,701 |
12 |
AllSpire Health GPO |
PA |
52 |
$13,784,233,616 |
13 |
Vizient - Southeast Supply Solutions |
FL |
50 |
$10,307,429,361 |
14 |
Prairie Health Ventures |
NE |
47 |
$2,255,924,555 |
15 |
Vizient - West Coast Purchasing Coalition |
TX |
46 |
$18,664,579,539 |
16 |
MHA Ventures Inc |
MT |
41 |
$2,561,429,477 |
17 |
Atrium Health Supply Chain Alliance |
NC |
39 |
$11,502,120,714 |
18 |
The Health Collaborative |
OH |
39 |
$9,009,997,916 |
19 |
Northern Plains Premier Collaborative LLC |
SD |
35 |
$3,038,193,677 |
20 |
National Capital Area Shared Services Inc |
MD |
32 |
$12,421,889,882 |
21 |
Avera PACE |
SD |
31 |
$2,432,098,077 |
22 |
Ochsner Regional Purchasing Alliance |
LA |
29 |
$3,778,479,555 |
23 |
VHA Oklahoma/Arkansas |
OK |
29 |
$5,351,012,814 |
24 |
The BJC Collaborative |
MO |
26 |
$8,034,912,846 |
25 |
NJHA Healthcare Business Solutions |
NJ |
25 |
$4,465,711,699 |
Fig. 1 Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s Hospitals & IDN database. Data accessed March 2022.
Which RPC has the highest number of member hospitals?
Capstone Health Alliance has the greatest number of member hospitals at 231. Acurity has the second greatest number of member hospitals at 224, followed by Vizient – Captis with 207 member beds.
Across the top 25 RPCs, there are 2,116 member hospitals total, with 85 being the average.
Which RPC has the highest member net patient revenue?
Acurity has the highest NPR at $71,503,207,380. The Children’s Hospital Association is second with $61,427,231,447 and Vizient – Captis is third with $40,532,422,984.
There is a total of $451,135,494,630 in member NPR, with an average NPR of $18,045,419,785.
What is a purchasing coalition?
A purchasing coalition is a group of providers who utilize their purchasing power to get better discounts from GPOs and other suppliers.
Some RPCs offer services in addition to purchasing, such as:
- Data sharing and utilization
- Networking and best-practice communication
- Performance improvement through trend identification
Though these services can benefit member facilities, an RPC’s primary purpose is to influence supply chain costs—sometimes by working with a GPO. Collaborating with a GPO can support RPCs in gathering and analyzing market data supporting strategic decision-making.
What’s the difference between RPCs and GPOs?
While GPOs and RPCs perform many of the same functions, there are a few differences. The primary distinction is that an RPC is a partnership between hospitals and care facilities to lower supply chain costs. A GPO is an outside organization that secures reduced purchasing prices for members. Additionally, RPCs are limited to a specific geographic region, and GPOs tend to serve care facilities nationwide.
Overall, information on RPCs can help companies and healthcare organizations gain insight into the purchasing trends within the complex healthcare industry. RPC data can also inform who has the greatest purchasing power in the industry.
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