Ingenix, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based health information technology subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, has announced plans to acquire Picis of Wakefield, Mass., a developer of clinical health IT systems for emergency, surgery and intensive-care departments and hospital financial information systems.
According to a news release from Ingenix, the electronic health-record system subsidy program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will boost sales at Picis. In particular, Picis will benefit from a rule change issued by the CMS July 13 that allows physician orders in emergency departments to count toward a requirement that hospitals use computerized physician order entry systems to qualify for federal subsidy payments. “Picis clients in this area will have new opportunities to recoup their investments in technology infrastructure,” according to the statement.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter. In 2006, Picis registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell an initial public offering of as much as $86.3 million in stock but withdrew the registration in mid-2007.
Ingenix provides "software, data and consulting services to pharmaceutical companies, health insurers and other payers, physicians and other health care providers, large employers and governments," according to a summary of its business lines on the company's website.
This move is Ingenix's first into providing direct patient-care clinical applications in the hospital market, although the company already offers CareTracker, a Web-based system of practice management and electronic health-record applications for office-based physicians following its 2007 acquisition of LighthouseMD, according to a company spokesman.
