Lumeris, a St. Louis-based company that provides cloud-based services and software for accountable care delivery, has teamed up with three health plans to buy NaviNet, a healthcare communications network used by physicians, payers and hospitals. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Independence Blue Cross and Lumeris signed the agreement to acquire Boston-based NaviNet, according to a news release. The deal is expected to close within 30 days.

Officials said the deal would give emerging ACOs access to Lumeris' care coordination and integration platform as well as to NaviNet's network for secure provider communications.

“Facilitating better care collaboration has been a huge focus for us and this acquisition clearly demonstrates that others share our vision and are willing to push it to the forefront,” Bradley Waugh, NaviNet's president and CEO, said in the release. “We're thrilled to be working alongside such industry leaders and look forward to collectively setting the standard for accountable care.”

In October 2011, Essence Group Holdings Corp., Lumeris' parent company, announced that BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, Chicago-based Sandbox Industries, and several other groups had invested $70 million in Essence. In the October release, Essence officials called it "one of the largest private sector investments in the accountable healthcare movement and one of the nation's 10 largest venture capital investments in the third quarter of 2011."