Eclipsys Corp. based in Atlanta will acquire Medinotes, a privately-held physician software company based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The announcement, made over the weekend at the 6th Annual Business Partner Conference in Las Vegas, heralds more consolidation in a still-fragmented healthcare IT market. It also comes on the heels of recent company mergers, including one pending between Misys and Allscipts - on hold while Misys looks for the $305 million it had planned to borrow from Lehman Brothers. The investment bankers were on the brink of bankruptcy until British bank Barclays swooped in to buy it.
The financial terms of the Eclipsys-Medinotes deal were not disclosed. The Medinotes partner meeting continues through Wednesday.
Eclipsys also added to its portfolio in February with the purchase of St. Louis, Mo.-based Enterprise Performance Systems Inc. in a $53 million deal. It's an acquisition that Eclipsys officials said, "reinforced our commitment to the financial decision support space."
Medinotes has practice management and electronic medical record solutions in more than 5,000 medical practices across the country, according to Medinotes executives.
Eclipsys, which has traditionally focused on providing information software, clinical content and professional services for hospitals and hospital-based health systems, views the Medinotes acquisition as opening the clinic and physician practice market for Eclipsys. "Studies have shown that over two-thirds of surveyed physicians in small to mid-sized practices do not yet have an EMR solution, and all of them plan to have one within the next two years," said R. Andrew Eckert, Eclipsys president and CEO. "And almost a quarter of practices with an existing solution report they're planning to replace it soon. So there's a significant market opportunity here for both Eclipsys and our clients."
Eckert said the MediNotes Clinician solution suite would be rebranded. It "will complement our existing Sunrise Ambulatory Care outpatient clinic solution to meet the needs of physician practices, whether tightly aligned or loosely affiliated," he said. "The MediNotes Clinician applications will be joining other Eclipsys solutions comprising our comprehensive community portfolio, such as our patient and clinician portals."
Eclipsys plans to formally launch these additions to its portfolio at the Eclipsys User Network Annual Outcomes Conference, Oct. 5-8 in Atlanta.
At the close of market on Friday, Eclipsys stock was trading at $22.94. The stock price has been rising since a low in July of $17.37.
Among Eclipsys competitors in the market are Kansas City-based Cerner and Atlanta-based McKesson.