Mergers and Acquisitions

Humana buys Louisville, KY-based home health and hospice giant Kindred Healthcare for $4.1B, representing a premium of 27%. TPG and Welsh Carson join as partners

This transaction represents a number of key trends. One is the much-talked-about vertical integration between payers and providers. The second is the growing movement towards partnerships between strategic and financial buyers which, until recently, competed for the same assets.

In a complex arrangement, Humana will acquire a 40% stake in the target’s home care business for about $800 million. The hospital and home care divisions of Kindred will eventually split with the financial buyers owning the former business. Humana has the right to purchase the rest of Kindred’s home care operation in 3-5 years.

Intouch buys Truclinic based in SLC, UT; entering direct-to-consumer telehealth

InTouch which has raised $57M since its inception in 2002, offers cloud based infrastructure solutions for the telehealth industry. The company has managed over 800,000 physician-to-patient consultations with 14,000 providers and 130 health systems. InTouch has the most comprehensive telehealth service lines; supporting more than 30 different services from acute to post-acute care. Truclinic is a configurable and modular software platform which can be applied in any physician’s office. The two companies were ranked #1 and #2 in their sector. Two winners joining hands. We like that.

West Corporation buys PhoneTree based in Winston-Salem NC

PhoneTree is a secured messaging platform for patient appointments, text and voice messaging. West is one of the largest global players in communication services which was taken private by Apollo Global for $5.1B. West has been an active acquirer of healthcare assets.

Evolent Health completes its acquisition of certain assets from New Mexico Health Connections

The deal was first announced in September of 2017. Evolent which provides a VBR platform for health systems is now able to operate a new health plan under True Health New Mexico. The target’s assets include a commercial plan and health plan management services.

Although this is a very small deal ($10.25M), its significance as a vertical integration strategy for Evolent should not be ignored. 

Change buys Madison, WI-based National Decision Support Company

Change and NDSC are old partners. The target’s automation engine can streamline medical reviews and prior authorization by accessing clinical data in EMRs. NDSC has multiple modules for radiology and internal medicine best practices. Although the company is pretty small, it brings a very rich array of evidence-based medicine capabilities to Change. 

Francisco Partners-backed QGenda acquires Sparks, MD-based Tangier Software

Tangier develops scheduling software for a variety of sectors including emergency and urgent care centers. QGenda is in the same business but covers different specialties. A nice roll up play indeed. 

Allscripts scoops up EHR vendor Practice Fusion for $100M cash; broadening its ambulatory presence

Practice Fusion was once the darling of Wall Street; touted to be one of the most successful healthcare IPOs. Over its lifetime since 2005, the company had managed to raise $160M. Some 30,000 ambulatory sites serving five million patients each month currently use Practice Fusion’s software which started as a free, web-based EHR to help small doc practices earn meaningful use incentives. In exchange the company had access to anonymized data to sell to pharma and CRO markets. All a noble aim, but the company failed to successfully operationalize the vision.  Allscirpts is undoubtedly one of the most aggressive acquirers in the industry right now. The company purchased McKesson’s HIT assets in August of 2017.

In partnership with Level Equity, Carlyle buys Net Health, a provider of clinical documentation, practice management and billing solutions company based in Pittsburgh, PA 

Spectrum Equity is the seller here. The firm bought a majority stake in NH in the summer of 2012. The company focuses on the outpatient market. Its software solutions serve five medical specialties. They have an installed base of 3,000 urgent care, wound care, physical therapy, speech and occupation therapy centers.

Carlyle Group acquired MedRisk based in King of Prussia, PA from TA Associates

MedRisk provides physical medicine solutions to the workers comps industry. The company is an old hand in the industry having been established in 1994. MedRisk has a national network of physical medicine providers in all 50 states and works with 17 of the top 20 workers comp insurance carriers and 8 out of the top 10 TPAs. The workers comp industry is booming. Lots of activity both on the administrative and onsite services fronts.

New mountain-backed OneDigital Health and Benefits acquires the Ruggieri Consulting Group based in New York, NY

The target is a boutique consulting company focused on designing and pricing health, welfare and retirement plans. OneDigital is a large and serious player in the employee benefits space. The company has over 35,000 clients and manages nearly $4.5B in premiums. This is a great combination bringing the focused IP of Ruggieri under the umbrella of OneDigital; strengthening the firm’s foothold in New York.

eHealth acquires Round Rock, TX GoMedigap for $20M upfront and $30M in earn out

eHealth is one of the leading online health insurance exchanges in the U.S. GoMedigap is a broker for Medicare Supplement insurance. In just a few years, GoMedigap has managed to assemble 26,000 members. Great Medicare play for eHealth.

Frazier-backed Matrix Medical Network acquires Healthfair based in Winter Park, FL

The target is a provider of mobile health assessment and diagnostic testing services for payers, providers and employers. Matrix’s solutions include in-home health assessment, quality improvement and care management services. Matrix has a network of 5,800 community- based providers which can be leveraged using Healthfiar’s mobile clinics.

Doctor.com based in New York, NY and Connect Healthcare based in Decatu, GA announce merger

This is match made in heaven. Doctor.com is in the business of reputation management and universal scheduling solutions. Connect Healthcare has strong data warehousing and provider directory tools as well as reputation management for large hospitals. The company stores 1.2 million provider data for 7.5 million unique users. Over 200 hospitals use the system. 

SymphonyCare acquires Birmingham, AL-based Influence Health’s Empower patient portal

The target has a patient engagement product which reaches more than a half a million patients monthly seeing 8,200 providers at more than 1,900 locations. Services focus on telemedicine and medication management applications. Symphony has a data integration and population management platform. The hope is that the combined companies can offer a more integrated service to their clients.

Influence Health, formerly MEDSEEK, is a CRM company. We are a bit confused why they are selling their portal business which should be a vital part of their CRM strategy.

Press Ganey purchases Bivarus based in Durham, NC

The target is involved in measuring continuous quality improvement (CQI). Press Ganey, which was privatized in 2016, is one of the largest players in the experience measurement business. Bivarus’s real time technology is a great value-add for Press Ganey.