PE Firms Target Revenue Cycle Management

by | May 5, 2016 1:49 pm | eHealth

Follow the money. Everywhere in health care today, controlling the flow of revenue is critical to success, from physician practices to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and more. As critical as it is, revenue cycle management took a back seat to electronic medical records in recent years, as CMS enforced the early stages of Meaningful Use to get physician practices on board with EMRs. Now that the switch to the ICD-10 coding system is firmly in place, investors’ attention has turned back to revenue cycle management (RCM). In just the first four months of 2016, nine RCM companies have been acquired, surpassing 2014’s total of eight RCM deals, and putting this year on track to beat... Read More »

MEDNAX Looks to Improve the Patient Experience

by | May 4, 2016 5:45 pm | eHealth, Physician Medical Groups

MEDNAX , Inc. (NYSE: MD), once focused exclusively on managing neonatology and anesthesia practices, is moving to manage the entire patient experience. In August 2014, it acquired MedData, Inc., a revenue cycle management company for an undisclosed price. The plan was to provide management services to facilities and physician groups beyond its then-existing footprint. A year later, in September 2015, MedData brought aboard Alegis Revenue Group, a national third-party receivables company. Alegis managed more than $3 billion in charges for more than 240 hospitals nationwide. The company’s patient-advocacy approach to eligibility and enrollment cut revenue cycle time from referral to... Read More »

April Deal Volume Was Decent

by | Apr 29, 2016 6:51 pm | Biotechnology, eHealth, Long-Term Care

We’re still in preliminary territory, so don’t bank on this yet. Health care M&A hit 120 deals for the month of April 2016, down 12% versus the previous month’s 136 deals, but 7% better than the same month a year ago. Long-term care deals led the transaction activity with 21 deals (18% of the total), with Biotechnology (17 deals, 14%) and eHealth (16 deals, 13%) close behind. Thanks to the $30.7 billion Abbott (NYSE: ABT) offer for St. Jude Medical (NYSE: SJM), spending for the month was far higher than in recent months. April’s deal value now stands at $42.2 billion, up 240% compared with March’s $12.4 billion and 732% compared with April 2015’s... Read More »

Veritas Capital Buys Back into Big Data

by | Apr 26, 2016 5:55 pm | eHealth, Private Equity

Big data firms are sweet targets for healthcare investors. Just last February, Veritas Capital sold Truven Health Analytics to IBM Watson Health (NYSE: IBM) for $2.6 billion. Now it’s putting some of that ROI into another big data firm, Verisk Health, the healthcare service business Verisk Analytics Inc. Verisk Health provides data services, analytics and advanced technologies to help users make smarter business decisions and reduce risk. The $820 million purchase price consists of $720 million in cash and a $100 million long-term subordinated promissory note. With Truven Health Analytics, Veritas Capital repositioned the company from a data provider with limited analytics offerings... Read More »

naviHealth Buys Curaspan

by | Apr 20, 2016 4:42 pm | eHealth, Other Services, Private Equity

naviHealth is moving deeper into post-acute care transitions, in an effort to follow the bundled payments from end-to-end. Last week the company announced it will acquire Curaspan Health Group for an undisclosed amount. Just last August, naviHealth was the target in a $290 million deal, as Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) acquired 71% of the company from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, with the goal of acquiring the remaining 29% within four years. naviHealth provides software and analytics to healthcare plans, health systems, physicians and post-acute care providers to manage the entire continuum of post-acute care. Curaspan Health specializes in care transition tools for hospitals and... Read More »

eHealth Deals, 2006 to 2015

by | Apr 19, 2016 7:47 pm | eHealth

Merger and acquisition activity in the eHealth sector has grown since 2013. Strategic buyers such as IBM Watson Health (NYSE: IBM) made big moves into this area, and private equity investors are focusing on revenue cycle manaegment, electonic health records serving specific segments and any platform that offers better cost containment for health care providers.   Read More »