Mergers and Acquisitions

Blues operator plans to acquire MEDecision (from Modern Healthcare, June 17, 2008)

Health Care Service Corp., Chicago, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, has reached an agreement to purchase all outstanding shares of publicly traded MEDecision, Wayne, Pa., a provider of disease-management and case-management systems and services, for $7 per share, a deal valued at about $121 million, according to a MEDecision news release.

Member-owned HCSC has been one of the largest clients of MEDecision, which will retain its name and will continue to market its products and services to other health plans, according to a MEDecision spokesperson. MEDecision stock closed at $1.71 a share yesterday and had a 52-week high of $5 in June 2007.

Directors of both companies approved the sale, and holders of a block of about 45% of MEDecision stock have entered into agreements with HCSC in favor of the deal, the release stated. The deal is expected to close by year-end and is subject to the approval of MEDecision shareholders and customary regulatory clearances.

• This is a good thing for MEDecision, as they have been short on case for some time, and have experienced quite a bit of staff and management turnover in the last couple of years. 

General Dynamics to Acquire ViPS, Inc. (June 3, 2008)

General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), today entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ViPS, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of HLTH Corporation (NASDAQ: HLTH), for approximately $225 million.

The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors at General Dynamics and at HLTH, is subject to normal regulatory approvals and is expected to close in 2008. ViPS will become part of the General Dynamics Information Technology business unit.

• Heard in the field - WebMD continues to searches for buyers...among things we have heard - Google, Microsoft?
  

GE Healthcare, EKG Data and EMRs

• GE Healthcare announced it will integrate EKG data with EMRs from e-MDs, eClinicalWorks, GEMMS, McKesson, Medinotes, and Medtuity.

Revolution Health Takes On Another Round of Layoffs...From The Washington Post, June 6, 2008

• Still restructuring and trying to tweak the business model. The cuts will take the District-based startup from around 250 employees currently to below 200.
  
  It is Revolution Health's second downsizing in eight months. The company laid off 60 employees last October at its Revolution Health Networks division, one of four divisions at the privately held firm.

Announcements

MphasiS/Eldorado Announces New Claims Management Product (June 18, 2008)

MphasiS Healthcare Solutions (MHS)/Eldorado, a provider of health benefit management and business process outsourcing (BPO) services, today announced the launch of Javelina, the company's next generation, browser-based healthcare claims and benefits platform, to address the business performance needs of health plans, third party administrators (TPAs), insurance carriers and self-insured organizations.

Microsoft and American Well Inc. Announce Collaborative Effort for Consumers (June 18, 2008)

American Well Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced that they have entered into a strategic collaboration to introduce an integrated consumer health solution that brings together American Well's Online Healthcare Marketplace and Microsoft HealthVault. The integrated solution will allow consumers to use their health information to interact live, online and on-demand with physicians from their home or office.

• The Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii, will be the first customer to offer the product to its members. The integrated solution will allow consumers to use their health information from HealthVault to drive online consultations with providers on the American Well system. Credentialed physicians who are already part of the HMSA network will be able to make themselves available for online and phone consultations with plan members as well as other consumers. This on-demand interaction between consumers and providers will be under advisement of consumers' care coordinator, namely their primary care physician.

Tennessee-based Health Information Exchange (HIE) Organization Changes Up Vendors (from Health Data Management, June 13)

Shared Health, a health information exchange serving the state of Tennessee, has dropped Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner Corp. as its core contractor and plans to go live June 26 with an enhanced platform from several new vendors. The Chattanooga-based HIE's new Clinical XChange platform will feature more interoperability functions, such as single-sign-on, with electronic records systems and hospital information systems used by its participating providers.

• Shared Health clinical outreach staff initiated the change after getting feedback about the functionality of the HIE's initial platform from participating physicians, executives say. The new vendors include Allscripts, IBM Corp., Initiate Systems, MedAI, Oracle Corp. and Orion Health Systems.

Rumors

• Oracle still looking at promising Health IT companies (and stars in other industries) to purchase. 
• TriZetto is converting from a publicly funded company to private ownership, agreeing to an acquisition by Apax Partners, with minority funding provided by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and The Regence Group, both customers of TriZetto. Perhaps this change of ownership will give the company some extra capital resources that could be used in the purchase of a relevant services company?