Emdeon signs definitive agreement to acquire HTMS

Emdeon Inc. (NYSE: EM), a leading provider of healthcare revenue and payment cycle management solutions, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Healthcare Technology Management Services (HTMS), a management consulting company focused primarily on the healthcare payer market.

HTMS consultants have provided consulting services for payer organizations with a special focus on technology and operations for more than 20 years. The acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to close this month.

Acting as a strategic business partner, HTMS helps healthcare clients develop and implement technology strategies designed to ensure alignment with healthcare trends and overall business goals. The HTMS leadership team has a unique blend of experience which includes individuals who formerly served as chief executive and chief information officers of healthcare organizations, and also held senior positions with leading market research firms. HTMS specializes in researching and assessing the healthcare IT software and service vendor space for best of breed solutions. Consequently, Emdeon will now be better positioned to assist its payer customers with analysis, selection, procurement and implementation services in deploying IT solutions quickly and cost-effectively.  

"We are extremely pleased to complement our leading revenue and payment cycle management solutions with consulting services to the healthcare payer market," said George Lazenby, chief executive officer of Emdeon. "By moving directly into the professional services arena, Emdeon will be able to further expand its position as a strategic partner to our customers and, importantly, support the growth of our existing business."

As the healthcare industry faces a convergence of numerous regulatory and market-driven healthcare IT changes in the coming years, payers have a growing need to assess their existing platforms and respond to these changes. The HTMS acquisition will solidly position Emdeon to assist payers in evaluating their IT strategies, systems and technologies in order to implement effective solutions which are aligned with their business goals.

Furthermore, HTMS will complement Emdeon's recently launched HIPAA transaction standards resource, HIPAASimplified.com. The HTMS team will provide strategic support of technical remediation, such as the transition to the new version 5010 and pharmacy D.0 transaction formats, through the delivery of education and training workshops. Through this acquisition, Emdeon will also strengthen its ability to aid its customers in identifying the potential impact of changes to workflows, systems, coding and clinical guidelines that payers face in the transition to the new ICD-10 code sets.

Michael Weiher, HTMS founder and principal, added, "In light of possible healthcare reform, ongoing regulatory changes and the trend towards consumerism in healthcare, payers have increasing needs for advice in assessing their current IT strategies. By combining with Emdeon, we will be better positioned to leverage its infrastructure, payer relationships and distribution network to respond to market needs."  

"HTMS's focus, proven experience in healthcare and expertise in core administrative and care management systems will allow Emdeon to significantly increase our value proposition to our payer customers," said Gary Stuart, executive vice president of Emdeon's Payer Services Division. "Their in-depth knowledge of the payers' systems, coupled with Emdeon's solutions and network, creates a powerful combination that has the ability to accelerate the return on investment we deliver to our customers."

Consideration for the transaction will be $11 million at closing, to be paid $8.5 million in cash and $2.5 million in restricted Emdeon Class A common stock, with additional contingent payments of $0 to $14 million in cash based upon the financial performance of the acquired business for the three year period following the closing.

SOURCE Emdeon Inc.