HMS Holdings Acquires Essette – A Web-based Care Management Technology Platform
07 September 2016 - 9:00PM
HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:HMSY) today announced the acquisition of
Essette, a web-based care management platform which helps
risk-bearing healthcare organizations identify, engage, and manage
at-risk patient populations to improve outcomes while managing
costs. Prior to the acquisition, Essette was a privately held and
organically grown care management software company, leveraging
technology in inventive ways to meet payer needs. The current
Essette customer base includes managed care organizations and care
delivery organizations. The approximately $20 million purchase was
funded with available cash.
“Essette is a market leader, with a demonstrated track record of
supplying payers with technology solutions to support care
management and care coordination. As our customers increasingly
focus on managing their members through the care continuum, the
addition of Essette gives HMS powerful new software tools to
leverage our historically strong data analytics capacity and
distribution channel as we further evolve our technology solutions
for risk bearing entities,” said Bill Lucia, HMS Chairman and CEO.
“This acquisition is a strategically important first step in our
strategy to build a broad foundation of technology and service
solutions to help our customers better manage quality, cost and
compliance across all lines of business. We were also attracted to
the recurring revenue potential for the Essette workflow
solutions,” added Lucia.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to sell our care
coordination, navigation and planning services to the expansive HMS
customer base,” said Andy Gaudette, Essette CEO. “As noted in a
recent Gartner report, ‘Care management workflow applications form
the operational backbone of payer population health management
programs.’1 In addition to controlling costs, payers are
increasingly focused on improving outcomes, patient engagement and
compliance – particularly as value-based reimbursement
increases. The Essette software suite sits at the
intersection of each of those needs,” concluded Gaudette.
The Essette core technology platform includes case management,
utilization management and population health management which
collectively enable collaboration and facilitate best practices for
payers across the care continuum. Primary Essette modules
include:
- Case and disease management using a framework based on NCQA and
CMSA guidelines
- Care plan development and analytics-driven campaigns designed
to engage members in wellness and health promotion programs
- Appropriate and cost-effective care through efficient
management of authorization requests and inpatient stays, including
auto-approvals using embedded evidence-based guidelines
Healthcare Growth Partners served as financial advisor to
Essette.
Webcast InformationJeff Sherman, Chief Financial Officer, will
be participating in a “fireside chat” at the Baird 2016 Global
Healthcare Conference at 9:40 am ET/ 8:40am CT today (September 7,
2016) at The New York Palace Hotel. A link to the audio cast will
be available on the Company's website at
http://investor.hms.com/events.cfm.
1. Gartner. “Market Guide for Healthcare Payer Care Management
Workflow Applications.” May 30, 2016.
https://www.gartner.com/doc/3333217/market-guide-healthcare-payer-care.
About HMS
HMS Holdings Corp., through its subsidiaries,
provides coordination of benefits and payment integrity services
for payers. The Company serves state Medicaid programs; health
plans, including Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and
group and individual health lines of business; federal government
health agencies, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services and the Veterans Health Administration; government and
private employers; and other healthcare payers and sponsors,
including child support agencies. As a result of the Company’s
services, our customers recover billions of dollars annually and
save billions more through the prevention of improper payments.
About Essette
Improved health and lowered costs require an integrated
approach. One that’s flexible, affordable and promotes care across
the continuum. Essette® web-based care management software offers a
robust alternative to ‘shrink wrapped’ applications. Incredibly
powerful and user-friendly, Essette software—built upon a
refreshingly efficient platform—is rapidly becoming the preferred
choice for healthcare organizations seeking a simple means of
delivering high-value, collaborative care. Whether the need is for
real-time monitoring and reporting of data, interface ability with
“core systems,” analytics, exchanges and external EMRs, or the
added expertise of Clinical Consultants, Essette is committed to
providing its clients with integrated solutions that combine
technology with creative thought and integrity. Learn more about
Essette software solutions by visiting http://www.essette.com.
Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements give our
projections or forecasts of future events and are based on our
current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the
economy and other future conditions; they do not relate strictly to
historical or current facts. Forward‐looking statements can be
identified by words such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,”
“estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “likely,” “may,”
“plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” “targets,” “will,” “would,” “could,”
“should,” and similar expressions and references to guidance,
although some forward-looking statements may be expressed
differently. In particular, these include statements relating to
future actions, business plans, objectives and prospects, future
operating or financial performance. Factors or events that could
cause actual results to differ may emerge from time to time and it
is not possible for us to predict all of them. Should known or
unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying
assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could differ
materially from past results and those anticipated, estimated or
projected. We caution you therefore against relying on any of these
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or
contribute to such differences, include, but are not limited to:
our ability to successfully integrate Essette's operations; our
ability to successfully execute our strategy of building out a care
management technology solutions platform; our ability to acquire
suitable acquisition candidates on acceptable terms; changes in the
U.S. healthcare environment or healthcare financing system; our
ability to retain customers or the loss of one or more major
customers; the unexpected reduction in scope or termination of a
significant contract; intellectual property rights, confidential
and proprietary information; our ability to execute our business
plans or growth strategy; development and implementation of new
product solutions or new process improvements; our ability to
maintain effective information and technology systems and networks,
and to protect them from damage, interruption or breach, including
cyber-security breaches and other disruptions; the nature of
investment and acquisition opportunities we are pursuing, and the
successful execution or integration of such investments and
acquisitions; the failure to realize the full value of goodwill or
intangible assets from acquisitions; our ability to attract and
retain qualified employees and key personnel; and other factors,
risks and uncertainties described in our most recent Annual Report
on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements are made as of
the date of this press release. Except as may be required by law,
we disclaim any obligation to publicly update forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
Investor Contact:
Dennis Oakes
SVP, Investor Relations
dennis.oakes@hms.com
212-857-5786
Media Contact:
Francesca Marraro
VP, Marketing and Communications
fmarraro@hms.com
212-857-5442
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