Med Data Inc., a provider of medical billing services has acquired revenue cycle management and personalized patient communications company MedDirect, Inc.
MedDirect works with clients in all 50 states to increase reimbursements from patients and to enhance the patient pre- and post-clinical experience. It also works to develop communications programs for providers aimed at increasing loyalty to its provider customers.
[See also: Providers ready to change revenue cycle management systems.]
"The economy and emerging payment models are transforming patients into educated healthcare consumers," said Douglas S. Thompson, MedData's CEO in a press release announcing the acquisition. "We've found that it's no longer enough to provide care and bill a payer for payment. It's now essential to incorporate a completely new set of retail oriented revenue cycle tools and develop more meaningful relationships with the patients themselves to ensure a provider's long-term financial health."
MedDirect will continue to run its operations out of Grand Rapids, Mich., and MedDirect CEO Ken Bloem has joined MedData's board as executive chairman. The company offers patient-facing marketing, pre-clinical and post-clinical communications to providers including:
- Pre-clinical appointment reminders
- Pre-clinical reminders
- Post-clinical reminders
- Medication reminders
- Real time satisfaction surveys
- Disease management
"MedDirect's distinctive patient communication services, coupled with MedData's revenue cycle operational scalability, is an important paradigm shift for providers," added Bloem in the press release. "This acquisition places MedData at the forefront of healthcare billing innovation by aligning enhanced operational processes with improved patient-centric communications and technologies, thus ensuring our clients' practices are well positioned to succeed in a rapidly changing healthcare environment."
MedData provides services to more than 2,000 physicians at 175 facilities across 35 states from its headquarters, as well as offices in Roseville, Calif., Bellevue, Wash. and Peoria, Ill. The company handles billing for more than 7.1 million patient encounters each year.