ROCHESTER, N.Y.--Aug. 15, 2005-- VHA Inc., a national health care alliance, has signed a new three-year multimillion-dollar contract with Xerox Corporation that will help VHA's 2,400 member health care organizations reduce costs and drive efficiencies through Xerox document management services. In addition, Novation, the supply company for VHA and the University HealthSystem Consortium, an alliance of 213 U.S. academic-based health centers, has signed a separate agreement with Xerox. The three-year deal will save VHA and UHC members money when purchasing or leasing Xerox products, including everything from digital office multifunction systems and printers to high-end production products such as the Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press. Through the VHA contract, VHA member hospitals will be able to tap Xerox Global Services for consulting services and digital imaging offerings designed to better integrate electronic and hard copy documents into key business and clinical work processes. Specifically, the VHA contract clears the way for member hospitals to take advantage of Xerox Global Services digital archiving services, compliance risk assessments for the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enterprise records management services, finance services and accounting services. Other available services include print procurement to help members better manage internal print operations and "e-discovery" for researching and collecting supporting documents needed for litigation. Xerox also will continue to offer on-site support of day-to-day document management operations, allowing hospital staffs to focus on patient care. "Given the amount of documents our members deal with on a daily basis, a partnership with Xerox is essential," said K. Jeffrey Hayes, senior vice president, business operations, at VHA. "Xerox's Lean Six Sigma initiatives align with our goal to measure results." Following a Lean Six Sigma-based document assessment for United Health Services, a VHA member in New York State, Xerox identified $100,000 in cost savings and built a digital forms repository for the hospital. The result was a more efficient process for viewing documents online, placing orders for electronic print jobs, and eliminating the costs associated with excess production of forms. "Until Xerox Global Services assessed our print environment, we knew little about the associated costs," said Keith Jamba, director of materials for United Health Services. "Now, we've not only dramatically reduced costs but improved productivity." "Health care workers spend about 70 percent of their time with documents, both electronic and paper," said John B. Jones, vice president of health care for Xerox Global Services, citing a recent study by IT research and advisory firm IDC. "Half of that time is spent looking for information, and 33 percent of that time they can't find what they're looking for. Creating a way for VHA members to develop effective document management strategies will help them avoid such pitfalls."