San Francisco-based telepharmacy company PipelineRX has acquired a similar company in Denver, Quality Pharmacy Management, as a means to expand its hospital pharmacy outsourcing tools that it says can help drive down costs.
The acquisition, according to PipelineRX, bolsters the company’s existing presence in six western states, including California, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Wyoming and Alaska. It combines “evolving technology with high quality pharmacy care,” the company said in announcing the deal. Financial terms were not disclosed. Employees of QPM will join PipelineRX.
The company notes that telemedicine is expected to reach $30 billion globally by 2016, and that “telepharmacy is a key element of that market.”
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PipelineRX was founded in 2009 by CEO Brian Roberts, who took his background in the staffing industry and applied it to hospital pharmacies by creating software that lets pharmacy techs work remotely.
Initially, the company targeted rural and safety-net hospitals and has since expanded its SaaS offerings to large, integrated health systems that can customize the software to their specific workflows.
Last year, Pipeline RX raised $5 million from strategic investor AMN Healthcare Services, Inc., which itself made an acquisition at the end of 2014. Additional investors and partners include CareFusion and the California Healthcare Foundation.
For Denver-based QPM Management, the push toward interoperablity and the consolidation occurring among hospitals drove shareholders to the acquisition, according to Kevin Jones, former CEO.
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“With more hospitals and states having PipelineRx telepharmacist coverage and its technology network, PipelineRx can bring even more value to its national clients,” said Roberts of PipelineRx.