Healthcare revenue cycle management technology companies Navicure, based in Duluth, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky-based ZirMed announced last week that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine companies.
The two companies provide hospitals, health systems, and ambulatory services organizations including physician practices with a suite of analytics-driven solutions to improve financial performance.
According to a joint press release, the combined company will serve more than 400,000 providers and healthcare organizations and will be “ideally positioned to further accelerate innovation in the industry by leveraging cloud-based solutions to help providers across all care settings efficiently collect for the quality care and services they provide.” The two companies also said that the merger will result in expanded solutions and advanced predictive analytics to hospitals, health systems and providers.
On the heels of the news of Navicure and ZirMed’s merger, as well as the news that Optum acquired Advisory Board, Black Book, a healthcare market research firm, released its 2017 Top Revenue Cycle Management Software and Services report and noted that the newly combined organizations are well positioned to dominate the RCM software space.
“Uniting top-performing revenue cycle management firms will significantly increase the pressure on competitor firms to retain clients,” Doug Brown, managing partner at Black Book, said in a statement.
In its report, Black Book ranked Optum360 as the top vendor among hospital chains, health systems and integrated delivery networks and Advisory Board first among community hospitals and inpatient facilities with 100 to 200 beds. Both won for the third consecutive year.
“Together as one, Optum360 and Advisory Board will possess the stronghold of satisfaction and loyalty from RCM software customers in community hospitals along with hospital chains and systems for both RCM outsourced services and software tools. Optum has topped the competition in outsourced coding services as well,” Black Book researchers stated.
Navicure grabbed top honors for the second consecutive year in both RCM software solutions for small, rural and critical access hospitals under 100 beds, and for a third year in ambulatory centers, physician practices and groups. Black Book ranked ZirMed as the top RCM software solution for hospitals over 200 beds, a ranking that the company has held for seven consecutive years.
“These vendor consolidations announced lately are undeniably creating a couple of RCM titans,” Brown said.
The combined company of Navicure and ZirMed will maintain existing locations and teams in Duluth, Georgia, Louisville, Kentucky, and Chicago, Illinois. During the transition period, the company plans to operate under both the Navicure and ZirMed brands. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2017.
“We are combining two double-digit growth healthcare revenue cycle technology providers with exceptionally strong reputations for product innovation and client satisfaction,” Jim Denny, president and CEO of Navicure, said in a statement. “Our solutions will offer the most modern, integrated, commercially-available revenue cycle management platform designed to meet the evolving needs of healthcare providers.”
“We expect a smooth transition as we combine these two revenue cycle platform leaders and maintain our shared commitments to our clients, partners and employees,” Tom Butts, chairman and CEO of ZirMed, said in a prepared statement. “By joining forces, our two companies are ensuring that providers across all segments are more empowered than ever to optimize their revenue cycles.”
Navicure provides medical claims management, patient payment and data analytics solutions that integrate across practice management systems. ZirMed’s platform is used by hospitals, health systems and ambulatory services organizations and combines predictive analytics technology with software development and an advanced transactional network. ZirMed was recently recognized with the “Peer Reviewed by HFMA” designation through the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
