Our team is closely watching the most recent moves in Washington D.C. regarding the healthcare overhauls destined to impact healthcare business operations and related software applications.
Specifically, we’re focused on the investments being made in technologies that bring payers and providers closer to better care via informatics and analytics. The applications for informatics in healthcare are vast and will profoundly impact care delivery – as such, its the central theme to a research effort we recently launched and which will culminate in a report scheduled for publication in Q2. Looking at technologies in the healthcare provider sector alone, significant opportunities exist for operational efficiencies that touch areas like:
- Patient Identification: The ability to appropriately integrate healthcare data into a master data management / enterprise master patient index (EMPI) is mandatory for making data meaningful and actionable.
- Patient Surveillance: Drug safety, infection control and real-time patient monitoring are only possible with advanced data collection and processing against mass databases of content.
- Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics applied throughout the administrative and clinical functions within a hospital (care coordination, A/R management, and revenue cycle) enables clinical decision support that can increase staff productivity and enhanced care.
- Computer Assisted Coding: Incorrect medical coding and billing costs millions of revenue dollars to healthcare providers. Using sophisticated technology, such as computer assisted coding, to help manage clinical information and allow hospitals and clinics to appropriately code treatment will become increasingly important as the industry transitions from ICD-9 to ICD-10.
As analytic capabilities continue to evolve, a full spectrum of valuation metrics have been achieved spanning from 8x (TEV/EBITDA) to 75x multiples via recent M&A transactions. Content centric global acquirers made the first bets – Elsevier acquired MEDai, a predictive analytics and data mining company in 2008, and last year ThomsonReuters acquired Healthcare Data Management (a healthcare data analytics for self-insurance health benefits plans) and ProfSoft (a physician and hospital performance analytics provider to payers). Additionally Wolters Kluwer acquired PharmacyOne Source at the end of last year. Traditional healthcare players like Ingenix, Cardinal Health, and Medco all made similar moves in 2010.
As the proliferation of value-based purchasing continues across CMS and the private sector (just last week CMS issued a proposed rule that would establish a federal value-based purchasing program), the demand for informatics to better manage healthcare will continue to grow.
As TripleTree assesses the market and builds out our perspectives for the upcoming report, let us know what you think. Thanks and have a great week!