In the face of declining reimbursement rates and pressure to cut costs, hospitals and health systems are looking further afield for new revenue sources.
That goes part of the way to explaining the decision by Renton, Washington-based health system Providence St. Joseph Health to acquire Bluetree, an EHR consulting company founded by former leaders at Epic Systems.
The other reason is that even a decade after the passage of the HITECH Act and billions of dollars of investment, issues with EHR integration, compliance and security still remain a regular (and expensive) headache for providers.
Bluetree, which was founded in 2012 and has more than 140 health system clients around the country, will operate as a separate subsidiary of the not-for-profit health system. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“By joining Providence St. Joseph Health, Bluetree will be able to help even more health care organizations maximize the power of technology,” Bluetree CEO Jeremy Schwach said in a statement.
“Bluetree has always focused on helping health care organizations better care for their patients. By tapping into the Providence St. Joseph Health platform and their thousands of dedicated and talented providers, we will be able to increase the speed by which we bring new innovations to our clients.”
The deal fits in line with Providence St. Joseph previous acquisition of consulting firm ENGAGE in 2013, which helps providers using MEDITECH’s technology. Providence also owns Community Connect, which helps independent providers integrate the health system’s version of Epic.
Another recent health services-oriented acquisition made by health system was its purchase of Lumedic, a blockchain-based revenue cycle management startup.
Earlier this year, Providence also launched a for-profit population health company called Ayin Health Solutions which is targeted at helping equip payers, providers, employers and government entities with the expertise they need to cut costs, improve care and stay on top of population health efforts.
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