Premier is acquiring a Pittsburgh-based analytics software vendor as it seeks to expand its capacity to track value-based care in the ambulatory arena.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based healthcare supply chain and performance services company announced Tuesday that it has acquired CECity for $400 million. CECity offers software that helps physician practices and professional organizations with performance management, pay-for-value reporting and professional education.
CECity serves over 1.2 million healthcare professionals; over 5,000 practices; and 100 professional societies, quality improvement organizations and certifying boards. The privately held firm's 134 employees and contractors will continue to work out of Pittsburgh but be part of for-profit Premier's performance services segment, according to a release.
"We are enhancing our capability to provide turnkey performance improvement and measurement reporting solutions in a rapidly expanding market,” Premier CEO Susan DeVore said in a statement. “These capabilities are critical given the ongoing movement toward population health, as well as emerging Medicare requirements for all physicians to start reporting on a range of new performance measurements.”
The acquisition will extend Premier's ability to help physicians meet a growing array of value-based payment and meaningful-use requirements, as well as allow practices to send patient data in real time to clinical data registries, the company said. Premier and its member health systems had previously partnered with CECity to develop performance improvement software for accountable care organizations.
Software subscriptions are a growing source of revenue for Premier, which struck a major third-quarter deal with Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives to implement its PremierConnect data warehouse and business intelligence product. The company's performance services segment, which includes software, brought in $69.6 million in third-quarter revenue, up 19% from the same period a year ago.
