Health Catalyst Buys Upfront, Announces Partnership With Databricks

Jan. 13, 2025
Company plans to combine Upfront's patient acquisition and scheduling expertise with its current patient engagement portfolio

Data and analytics services company Health Catalyst Inc. (Nasdaq: HCAT), is acquiring Upfront Healthcare Services Inc., a patient engagement platform provider.

Upfront provides a patient activation and engagement platform and a proprietary strategic marketing analytics and content personalization solution for healthcare enterprises. Health Catalyst said that Upfront's automated patient acquisition and retention solutions enable healthcare organizations to win loyalty and guide patients to optimal care by leveraging hyper-personalized experiences.

Salt Lake City-based Health Catalyst plans to combine Upfront's patient acquisition and scheduling expertise with its current patient engagement portfolio to strengthen the patient experience foundation set by Twistle Patient Engagement by Health Catalyst and the Lumeon by Health Catalyst Care Orchestration platform, which both seek to help patients stay informed throughout the care process.

Health Catalyst also plans to integrating Upfront's technology into its offerings, as Upfront's technology analyzes clinical, sociodemographic, and patient-reported data to digitally guide patients to the care they need.

"Guided by our commitment to igniting data-informed healthcare improvement with patient experience as a top priority, we are positioned to provide meaningful support to our clients for the patient care journey," said Health Catalyst CEO Dan Burton, in a statement. "Fostering improved patient engagement and satisfaction is critical, and by adding Upfront to Health Catalyst's existing portfolio, we can better support our clients in their efforts to optimize access, improve care transitions, and close care gaps."

Health Catalyst anticipates the acquisition will close in the first quarter of 2025. It plans to fund the transaction with a mix of cash and stock. 

Health Catalyst also announced it has entered into a partnership with Databricks, a data and AI company, to advance healthcare data sharing and analytics with a configurable solution designed specifically for healthcare organizations.

Health Catalyst will use Delta Sharing for secure, cross-platform healthcare data sharing. Delta Sharing is Databricks' open-source approach that enables customers to share live data across platforms, clouds, and regions.

The companies said the partnership would deliver a fully integrated solution that makes healthcare data more actionable, eliminating the traditional barriers of siloed data and complex infrastructure management.

 

 

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