Applied Medical Named Top Premier Performer

Pinnacle Award recognizes performance excellence, operational efficiency

Orange County, California, June 22, 2007 - Applied Medical today announced that it has been recognized by the Premier healthcare alliance as a winner of the 2007 Pinnacle Award for supplier performance that meets and exceeds the expectations of Premier and its members.

The 2007 Premier Pinnacle Award was awarded to only 13 suppliers of the 720 eligible contracted suppliers who have consistently achieved scorecard ratings in 2006 of 95 percent or higher.

Mike Alkire, President of Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P. said, “The Premier Pinnacle Award honors those elite suppliers who understand the importance of collaboration and strive for performance excellence. These suppliers are setting the standard for all of Premier’s contracted suppliers as we work together to improve the healthcare of our communities, and we are proud to bestow this honor upon Applied Medical.”

Mike Clark, Applied Medical’s National Director of Corporate Accounts, accepted the award at the 2007 Premier Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in Orlando on June 19.  Mr. Clark said, “Receiving the Premier Pinnacle Award reinforces our commitment to continuously strive to offer the highest quality products at the best possible price to the Premier alliance.  Throughout our business partnership, the communication, support and responsiveness extended to Applied Medical by Premier’s Management and Staff reinforced our efforts to bring true value to their membership.   Applied Medical is committed to maintaining this level of performance.” 

About Premier

Serving 1,700 hospitals and more than 46,000 other healthcare sites, Premier is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates the nation's largest healthcare purchasing network, the most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information and one of the largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups in healthcare. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

About Applied Medical 

Applied Medical, headquartered in Orange County, California, is a global new generation medical device company that couples enhanced clinical outcomes with superior value. Applied Medical’s founding philosophy is to develop new and meaningful technologies through consistent investment of 20 percent of its revenues in research and development. Applied believes that innovation is the key to providing improved clinical outcomes while reducing the cost of care associated with the growth in healthcare needs.

For additional information, please contact Mary Jo Stegwell at 949-713-8000