Information technology and services company Ingenix has signed a merger agreement to acquire Wakefield, Mass.-based Picis, which provides health information solutions for the high-acuity areas of hospitals.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, according to the announcment Thursday.
Ingenix is best known for its work with health intelligence and analytics throughout the healthcare system. Combining with Picis strengthens its position in the delivery system, where it serves nearly 6,000 hospitals with consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions. Picis specializes in providing enterprise software to the high-acuity areas of hospitals, which include the emergency department, surgical suites (ORs and recovery rooms) and intensive care units. Its acquisition will extend Ingenix’s capabilities into the high-acuity information systems market.
Picis’ information solutions combine clinical, financial and administrative data to facilitate information exchange among clinicians and hospital managers. Its systems are currently installed in more than 1,800 medical centers, hospitals and integrated delivery networks in 19 countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The acquisition will enable Picis to build on its market-leading platform with additional resources, information and analytics expertise from Ingenix.
"Ingenix and Picis share a commitment to improving healthcare and delivering results through the ‘health intelligence’ generated by information technology," said Todd Cozzens, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Picis.
"For today’s hospitals, the automation, optimization and transformation of high-acuity care is critical to helping achieve compliance with meaningful use rules. Picis has the solutions that will help our clients drive even greater positive change for their patients, their businesses and health systems overall. We will accelerate this transformation together with Ingenix."
"This marriage of ‘health intelligence’ and clinical workflow will provide substantial value to patients, physicians and hospitals," said Andy Slavitt, chief executive officer of Ingenix.
"Tremendous opportunities exist to use information and technology to modernize the high-acuity area, delivering better care and greater efficiency to these high-volume areas of the hospital, where resource consumption is often at its greatest. Working with Picis’ world-class senior leadership team and talented employees, we believe we can make meaningful change in this critical segment of health care."
The high-acuity segment of the healthcare IT market has been growing at nearly twice the rate of the market overall in recent years. Picis has experienced a compound annual growth rate in excess of 50 percent annually since 2001, and grew revenues during the downturn of 2009, even as other HIT vendors were experiencing revenue declines.
Growth in the high-acuity segment is expected to be further stimulated by the $46 billion Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And with the final meaningful use rules released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month designating the ED as a covered inpatient care area, Picis’ clients in this area will have new opportunities to recoup their investments in technology infrastructure.
Ingenix will maintain Picis’s operations in Wakefield, Mass, as well as its other offices and operations in the United States and Europe.
