Health IT

HealthRight and HealthNEXT merging in attempt to get population health right

Will the combined company be called HealthNEXTRight or HealthRightNEXT, both of which sound like traffic directions?

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Will it be called HealthNEXTRight or HealthRightNEXT, both of which sound like traffic directions?

John Palumbo, CEO of the just-announced merged entity joining e-health services provider HealthRight and evidence-based employer benchmarking firm HealthNEXT, said no decision has been made on what to call the new company. That company will serve the growing population health niche described in the Affordable Care Act.

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based HealthRight has conducted more than 1 million patient tele-consults from its 4 million patient members. In addition to telephone and face-to-face consults with nurses and physicians, HealthRight offers prescription drug services, health advocacy, wellness programs, vision and dental care and lab testing.

HealthRight describes itself as a “unique membership program designed to fill gaps in the current healthcare system,” allowing members — usually contracted through employers — to access healthcare services 24/7, as well as savings on other healthcare services.

Philadelphia-based HealthNEXT creates evidence-based employer roadmaps for benchmarking population health goals. Palumbo said the acquisition was not struck to achieve synergies, but to drive portfolio and market-share expansion.

“It’s all driven by revenue acceleration,” he said. “It’s a growth merger. We’re building off of last year when we did the merger with Angelrush, a consumer-focused healthcare provider,” he explained. Angelrush Ventures joined with MD Aligne last September to form HealthRight.

Palumbo called the valuation of the newly combined entity at about $100 million. He declined to disclose further financial details of the all-stock deal. The combined firm will employ around 200 and includes a national provider network “in the tens of thousands,” Palumbo said.

Palumbo said that the merged companies’ goal is achieving a culture of health and wellness and ultimately bending the cost curve, whether those clients are individual consumers, employers or insurance companies. “We needed to have consumer identification and engagement tools, and we accomplished that with last year’s merger with Angelrush,” he said.

“The other challenge HealthRight faced was an evidence-based roadmap for employers to deliver integrated care in a new way. We needed to create a unique, personalized service and an exceptional patient experience. Our virtual care teams, now supported by HealthNEXT, allow us to provide on-site or near-site physicians to take care of an entire patient population. And we’ve changed how we position ourselves in the employers’ market with the addition of evidence-based research.”

Palumbo said that now HealthRight can tell its customers that if they perform a particular set of actions tailored to its employee population, then they can lower the costs of providing healthcare.

“And that’s the goal of every CEO in country: how to protect their most precious assets, their people, and create a sustainable approach to healthcare improvement,” Palumbo said.

Unfortunately, until now, he said, most employers have attempted to trim healthcare expenses by cost-shifting, putting more of the financial burden on their employees.

Palumbo expects the deal to close within 30 to 45 days.

Photo: freeimages.com user Mike Johnson

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