Navigant announces acquisition of EthosPartners

Navigant (NYSE:NCI) announced today that it has acquired EthosPartners Healthcare Management Group, Inc. (EthosPartners), a national healthcare consulting group specializing in physician and hospital alignment, physician practice operations management, and physician revenue cycle management. Combining EthosPartners' physician expertise with Navigant's existing healthcare practice capabilities significantly enhances and broadens the solutions that Navigant offers to its clients.

“Hospitals, health systems and physician practices need to prepare for lower reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payers, while constructing a delivery capability that can accept innovative payment techniques tied to better quality outcomes”

"We are very pleased to make an additional investment in one of our key strategic growth areas following earlier 2010 investment success in our Energy, Disputes and Economics practices," commented William M. Goodyear, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navigant. "In order to compete in today's rapidly changing market, health systems are exploring strategies for adding physicians as their partners in care delivery. The need to integrate and manage these physician groups to prepare for the demands of health reform while delivering high quality care is rapidly accelerating. The combination of our existing healthcare team with EthosPartners will position us to assist clients in addressing the impacts of this change."

EthosPartners' physician focused experience in the areas of practice management, revenue cycle management, business intelligence and strategic consulting services is a strong complement to Navigant's healthcare provider expertise. The EthosPartners team includes 180 billable professionals, 85 of which are part of the revenue cycle outsourcing business based in South Dakota. Eight of the professionals will be joining Navigant as Managing Directors, with several taking practice leadership roles.

"Hospitals, health systems and physician practices need to prepare for lower reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payers, while constructing a delivery capability that can accept innovative payment techniques tied to better quality outcomes," commented Dave Zito, Managing Director and Navigant Healthcare Practice Leader. "By joining forces with EthosPartners we are creating a one-of-a-kind consulting group that can help clients survive in today's competitive healthcare market. The passage of healthcare reform has thrust our clinical integration practice into the spotlight and with our combined organizations we are better positioned to help transform health systems into Accountable Care Organizations."

In addition to expanding existing consulting services, EthosPartners broadens Navigant's healthcare solutions with the addition of a recognized revenue outsourcing solution. Using proven business processes the group helps its clients achieve efficiency in billing and collecting to reach optimal financial performance. Additional information about EthosPartners can be found at www.ethospartnershc.com.

"Uniting EthosPartners' physician practice expertise with Navigant's healthcare solutions makes us the only one to combine hospital - physician strategy and integration expertise with 'roll up the sleeves' practice management and operational execution that can achieve implementable performance improvement targets," commented Alex Hunter, President and Chief Executive Officer of EthosPartners. "This combination of resources and capabilities will help healthcare providers prepare their organizations to succeed in the rapidly changing healthcare market."

Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, Navigant paid a total of $37 million, consisting of $28 million in cash, $2 million in restricted Navigant stock and $7 million of deferred cash payments. In addition, EthosPartners can earn up to $8 million of additional payments based on the future performance of the business.