Ingenix Gets the Lewin Group

Ingenix, a health information technology company located in Eden Prairie, Minn., has acquired the Lewin Group, a national healthcare and human services consulting firm based in Falls Church, Va. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to Ingenix, the acquisition will enhance its strength in healthcare data methodologies, analytics, software and tools, and strengthen its ability to provide value-added solutions to clients.

Clients of the Lewin Group will have access to Ingenix's financial and clinical data resources, and health analytics and technology, contends the company.

The Lewin Group will operate with editorial independence, says Ingenix, and will continue to provide its clients with healthcare and human services policy research and implementation support.

Caltex Purchases Stake in Meditab

Caltex Capital, an investment firm located in Los Angeles, has purchased a stake in Meditab Software Inc., a provider of solutions for the healthcare industry based in Oakland, Calif.

According to Meditab, Caltex will take an active role in the operations of the company, with Noah Davis, managing partner of Caltex, serving as CFO of Meditab.

Daniel Wisnicki will serve as vice president of the Meditab's senior care division and help develop and sell the company's new Intelligent Facility Software (IFS), says Meditab. Paul Rosenstock, a board certified internist and geriatrician who has been in practice for over 29 years, will serve as a board member, says the software company.

Hicks Acquires Stake in SafeMed

Hicks Holdings LLC, a Dallas-based private investment enterprise, has acquired a 40 percent stake in SafeMed, a San Diego-based provider of clinical decision support systems. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed

According to SafeMed, it currently offers three products:

• SafeMed Phama identifies prescription drug alternatives, ranking them by safety, efficacy and affordability based on patient-specific data in conjunction with insurer business rules.

• SafeMed Imaging helps identify and rank diagnostic imaging tests for a specific patient, and provides an authorization and approval process.

• SafeMed Quality analyzes patient data against Class I quality guidelines in real time to help identify and resolve gaps in care.

According to Hicks, the investment will enable SafeMed to accelerate the continuing implementation of its business strategy.

Partners and Siemens Work for SOA

Partners HealthCare, Boston, and Malvern, Pa.-based Siemens Medical Solutions USA have finalized an agreement to continue developing service-oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructures in healthcare IT, specifically within the Siemens Soarian SOA platform.

Soarian, a hospital information system, manages the process of healthcare and the interactions between members of the care team, as well as transactions and data, according to Siemens.

SOA delivers the capability to individually extend, reuse and access services. Deploying SOA into healthcare processes has the potential to improve system flexibility, while optimizing workflow throughout the enterprise, according to the organizations.

Initiate and dbMotion Team Up

Initiate Systems Inc. and dbMotion Ltd. have partnered to create a solution that provides healthcare organizations with secure access to patient information.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a not-for-profit corporation serving 1.4 million people in the Bronx, N.Y, is among the first to use the joint offering.

According to both companies, combining dbMotion's offering with Initiate's Identity Hub software for master data management (MDM) aids interoperability efforts by:

• Creating an integrated view of patient information across facilities.

• Responding to data reporting requirements, including pay for performance (P4P), core measures and JCAHO.

• Reducing duplication and overlap of patient data within and across hospital information systems through operational master data management.

• Empowering physicians with patient information from office visits and hospital stays across cooperating organizations.

• Providing referral doctors with access to patient information.

• Performing effective clinical analysis by combining insight across all research facilities.

Initiate Systems, a provider of enterprise master person index (EMPI) solutions, is based in Chicago. Israel-based dbMotion is a provider of healthcare information integration software that facilitates interoperability and health information exchange.

Leerink Swann Joins with KBT

Leerink Swann, a healthcare investment bank based in Boston, has formed an exclusive alliance with KBT Partners, a newly formed healthcare information technology (HCIT) management services firm, also headquartered in Boston.

Under the agreement, KBT's three partners will become exclusive consultants within Leerink Swann's MEDACorp network.

Leerink Swann contends that by combining the advisory capabilities of KBT partners with its banking platform, Leerink will be positioned to address the emerging needs of its HCIT clients.

GE Signs OEM With Kryptiq

Barrington, Ill.-based GE Healthcare has signed an OEM agreement to private label and distribute Kryptiq's connectivity suite in conjunction with Centricity Practice Solutions.

According to Kryptiq, its solution includes document management, clinical messaging, and a patient portal. The solution is designed to enable provider-to-provider collaboration and online patient services, says the company.

Kryptiq Corporation, a provider of workflow and connectivity software for the healthcare industry, is based in Hillsboro, Ore.

McKesson Specialty Takes Mosaic

McKesson Specialty, a business unit of McKesson Corporation, has acquired Larkspur, Calif.-based Mosaic Health Care Consultants, a firm that specializes in healthcare reimbursement management technology and reimbursement consultation.

According to San Francisco-based McKesson, Mosaic's physician practice technology solutions are designed to ensure that a practice is reimbursed for the totality of the care it provides to each patient.

Mosaic's reimbursement management technology provides support for office billing and receivables, while also enabling analysis of product and procedure reimbursement trends and benchmarking, says McKesson.

For pharmaceutical manufacturers, McKesson contends that Mosaic's reimbursement strategy personnel can decipher unique market, product and reimbursement dynamics, including potential hurdles to coverage, coding and payment.

MedAssets Acquires XactiMed

Alpharetta, Ga.-based MedAssets Inc. has acquired XactiMed Inc. (Richardson, Texas), a provider of Web-based revenue cycle technologies and services to the healthcare industry.

MedAssets' current revenue cycle offerings include chargemaster management, charge capture auditing, defensible pricing, and denials management, as well as supply item file and chargemaster linkage.

According to MedAssets, the acquisition will expand the offering of its Net Revenue Systems to include claims management, remittance management, denial management solutions, and an array of revenue cycle services and consulting.

Terms and conditions of the XactiMed acquisition were not disclosed.

PCTS and Sonitor Market Workflow

Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering Inc., and Largo, Fla.-based Sonitor Technologies have formed a strategic alliance to jointly market their hospital workflow technologies.

Under the agreement, the companies will coordinate sales and marketing efforts to provide a workflow solution that integrates Sonitor's ultrasound-based indoor positioning system with PCTS' Amelior automatic patient and asset tracking software.