Dive Brief:
- SCI Solutions has acquired Clarity Health, a referral management company, for an undisclosed amount.
- The company said the acquisition will create one of the largest referral management and care coordination software firms in the industry, serving more than 10,000 physicians and 700 hospitals, health systems, and imaging centers in 275 locations across the U.S., according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.
- SCI CEO Joel French said the company, which currently has 120 employees, will be "hiring considerably more professional staff" but didn't provide a specific number. The merged company will be headquartered in Seattle, with each company remaining in its current office.
Dive Insight:
The demand for medical records services continues to grow via the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a push for more coordinated healthcare. Both companies use cloud computing to transfer medical records and referrals between patients and providers. An estimate by Frost & Sullivan puts the compound annual growth rate for care coordination software companies at 26% between 2015 and 2020.
Nancy Fabozzi, a principal connected health analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said in a press release, "In the next six years, the digital health market is likely to experience a continuous flurry of new products and services specifically designed to help smooth the pain points associated with transitioning from fee-for-service. The move to value-based reimbursement is already a key driver for health IT, and efforts toward developing solutions for care coordination and population health management will accelerate significantly."