Truven Health Analytics Acquires Simpler Consulting
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Truven’s acquisition of Simpler allows it to offer end-to-end solutions for the healthcare industry.
Truven Health Analytics’ acquisition of Simpler Consulting combines a major force in healthcare performance analytics with a firm boasting a standardized methodology to improve performance in healthcare organizations.
The deal between the private companies, terms of which were not disclosed, also brings a sizable chunk of new healthcare clients to Truven Health, says CEO Michael Boswood. Simpler Consulting has about 100 clients in several industries. Its healthcare unit – principally hospitals and delivery systems – is the largest and represents hundreds of facilities.
Truven Health’s analytical products enable healthcare organizations to measure their performance relative to peers and specific benchmarks. Simpler Consulting offers a five-step process to enable providers, pharmaceutical firms, and medical device companies to identify value and remove waste in business operations. The steps cover improved clinical processes, scheduling, morale, productivity, and patient safety/satisfaction.
With this acquisition, Truven will offer a comprehensive range of analytics, data management, management consulting, and performance improvement services to hospitals and health systems, government agencies, employers, health plans, and life sciences companies, according to a press release from Truven.
According to Health Data Management, buying Simpler Consulting enables Truven Health to fill a huge gap for providers who have the data to analyze but not the opportunity to really use it and find value, says John Osberg, managing partner at Informed Partners LLC, a consultancy specializing in the healthcare mergers and acquisitions market. “It doesn’t matter if you have data if you can’t make the data have an impact.”
Now, Truven’s hospital and clinical divisions will combine into a provider solutions group, with Simpler operating as a separate business within that group and run by Simpler’s entire management team. Whether the cultures match or clash will be the challenge for Truven Health, Osberg believes.
Boswood also said that Truven Health also will apply Simpler’s performance improvement methodology to the company, looking for ways to enhance the analytics services. The acquisition is the first since private equity firm Veritas Capital acquired Truven Health in June 2012, and Boswood expects to make more deals.
Osberg says the acquisition also supports an emerging trend, as about a quarter of large delivery systems are in various stages of implementing a health plan to better coordinate the provision and payment of care under the Affordable Care Act. For large healthcare organizations, “The Kaiser model has won,” he adds. “I think that’s as big an event as the ACA itself. Time will tell.”
Simpler’s CEO, Marc Hafer explained that “Healthcare reform has created a perfect storm of new payment models and detailed data reporting requirements for every single touch point in the healthcare ecosystem, which can make it very difficult to run an efficient business. We’ve long known Truven as the absolute best healthcare analytics firm and we are thrilled at the prospect of what our combined offerings will bring to the industry.” Hafer and the entire Simpler management team will continue to run the business as a unit of Truven Health Analytics serving healthcare, commercial/industrial and public sector industries and will report into Roy Martin, EVP and COO of Truven’s commercial division.