News Feature | November 24, 2015

MedAssets Acquisition Could Mean Big Changes For Healthcare

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

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The $2.7 billion sale will split revenue-cycle management from group purchasing and consulting business.

MedAssets, a healthcare performance improvement company currently serving 80 percent of hospitals across the U.S., has announced it will be acquired by Pamplona Capital Management for $2.7 billion. The sale will split MedAssets revenue-cycle management segment from its group purchasing and consulting business, a move that portends a healthcare marketplace shakeup.

Pamplona is planning to combine the MedAssets revenue cycle management business with its Precyse business, as well as sell the MedAssets spend and clinical resource management business to VHA-UHC Alliance, a network of non-for-profit hospitals.

“Aligning MedAssets’ SCM offerings with VHA-UHC Alliance’s technologies and expertise will create a more robust experience for our collective members and customers,” said Curt Nonomaque, president and chief executive officer of VHA-UHC Alliance. “Our broader partnership with Pamplona will be similarly valuable, creating synergies that will enable us to better serve our members and customers.”

VHA-UHC Alliance serves more than 5,200 health system and hospital members and affiliates, and more than 118,000 non-acute healthcare customers representing more than $50 billion in annual purchasing volume. The MedAssets SCM business serves approximately 3,300 hospitals and 123,000 non-acute healthcare providers, and manages approximately $59 billion in total spend on behalf of its customers. Pamplona and VHA-UHC have agreed to work together on certain offerings to serve mutual customers, according to a news release.

Following completion of the sale, the combined revenue-cycle management company would be 45 percent technology, 45 percent services, and 10 percent workforce development Dr. Jeremy Gelber, partner at Pamplona, told Modern Healthcare. “When you put that whole thing together, you’re giving the CFO accountability across the revenue cycle,” Gelber said. “Marrying in clinical and financial information, that’s really important in the value-based world.”