MedAssurant purchases Catalyst Information Technologies

MedAssurant, Inc., a leading provider of data-driven healthcare solutions, announced today that it has acquired Catalyst Information Technologies, Inc., d/b/a Catalyst Technologies, a leader in healthcare clinical quality outcomes analysis and data analytical toolset development.

Catalyst Technologies, a healthcare data analytical firm founded in 1996 and based outside of Atlanta, Georgia, has risen to become a leading provider of clinical and quality outcomes analysis software and clinical research datasets within the United States. Known as the nation’s leading solution provider in the provision of HEDIS® (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) administrative software solutions for the managed care marketplace’s reporting to NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance) and the Center of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Catalyst has developed a proprietary analytical rules compiler which allows for a significant acceleration in critical steps of algorithm build, testing, and execution.

“We are extremely pleased to be joining with MedAssurant, combining our software tools and proven capabilities in clinical and quality analytics together with MedAssurant’s broader platform of data-driven interventions. We see this providing the marketplace an advanced generation of healthcare solutions – one focused not only on measurement and reporting, but also on meaningful impact and improvement,” said Scott Groussman, CEO of Catalyst Technologies. “After working in many client settings alongside MedAssurant for several years, we have seen the strength and breadth of MedAssurant’s solutions. We are very excited about the expanded capabilities that we see this union bringing our customers and the healthcare community at large.”

The addition of the Catalyst systems, datasets, and customer base further expands MedAssurant’s arsenal of capabilities and accelerates additional development of solutions focused on Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER), Health Economics Outcomes Research (HEOR), and clinical and quality outcomes measurement and financial efficiency. The insights gained through the granular analysis of large-scale datasets has been shown to drive dramatic advancements in impact across MedAssurant’s solutions, bringing industry-leading capabilities to MedAssurant’s customers. Together, the addition of Catalyst solutions to the MedAssurant nationwide platform of data-driven solutions, will allow for a significant expansion of capabilities to both organizations’ customers.

“The focus at MedAssurant is in the application of healthcare data to drive meaningful and measurable impact – improving quality, outcomes, and financial performance. This acquisition brings two like-minded organizations together, achieving great synergies and truly unparalleled capabilities,” said Keith Dunleavy, M.D., President & CEO of MedAssurant. “Catalyst has an outstanding reputation within the marketplace. As we have come to know their capabilities and their many talented people over the years, we have been increasingly impressed by the common focus on utilizing data to drive meaningful improvement in the healthcare arena. This common focus is strong between our organizations and we are excited about the benefits of advanced functionality and speed to impact that this will bring to our expanded array of customers.”

The Catalyst / MedAssurant toolsets have demonstrated interoperability in a broad set of managed care organizations over the past five years. The combined teams will offer and provide to customers the expanded toolset immediately – with many customers already having achieved combined functionality. Bringing the customer bases together expands MedAssurant’s managed care customer base to well over two hundred organizations, including half of the top 20 managed care organizations within the United States, representing a provision of services to health plans serving more than 100 million Americans. The addition of Catalyst to the MedAssurant solution suite now makes the combined offering of both administrative and hybrid medical record data review and analysis the largest clinical and quality analysis and reporting solution in the U.S. healthcare marketplace.

The acquisition, which closed effective September 11, 2009, was made through a combination of MedAssurant cash and common stock. MedAssurant carries no long-term debt and no debt or outside financing was used for the financing of the acquisition. The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as advisors to MedAssurant in association with this transaction. The investment bank Harris Williams & Co. and the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP served as advisors to Catalyst Technologies in association with this transaction. No other details of the transaction were disclosed. HEDIS is a registered trademark of the NCQA.