Premier healthcare alliance, which consists of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals and 66,000 healthcare sites, has launched a new health IT plan that will seek to leverage its hospitals' performance improvement data and knowledge sharing.

According to the Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier, more than $86 million will be invested in the expansion of the data foundation needed to support new models of healthcare delivery, which will encompass acute and non-acute care settings, including accountable care organizations over the course of the next three years.

In addition, new measures in informatics products to help hospitals predict reform impact, automate measures reporting and sustain quality and cost improvements in the areas of readmissions, value-based purchasing, infection prevention and waste reduction and harm avoidance will be included in the plan, as well as opportunities for further cost containment, care quality and patient safety gains, said the alliance.