There’s an interesting healthcare merger taking place in New Jersey on Monday.
Continuum Health Alliance, a technology-enabled managed services company and integrator, has acquired a controlling interest in Partners in Care, a physician-owned healthcare management firm in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Partners in Care is the managed services organization for United Medical Group, an independent physician association affiliated with Barnabas Health.
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The IPA also has an interest in an accountable care organization, according to Don McDaniel, CEO of Continuum Health Alliance.
“We’re integrating the physician services part [of Partners in Care] into our business,” McDaniel said. This will give the buyer a bigger foothold in the central part of the state and help Continuum expand its work in population health, he explained.
Most of Marlton, New Jersey-based Continuum’s operations are in South Jersey, though it also has staff in Texas and Wisconsin. Although Partners in Care is tied to a medical group, Continuum will not own any physician or practice assets, McDaniel said.
The purchase also will allow Continuum to move closer to its vision of transforming healthcare in two ways: helping physician practices retool their revenue-cycle management and coding for the world of value-based reimbursement; and help doctors remain independent even as they take on risk in contracts with payers. “There’s a high degree of dissatisfaction with employment by hospitals,” McDaniel said.
“We deliver technology and analytics to help with process improvement,” McDaniel said. This could include telepresence as well as systems integration, he continued.
For Partners in Care, the partnership is an opportunity to broaden its service area.
“As one of the region’s leading physician enablement companies with a proven record of success in practice optimization and value-based care, Continuum brings expanded reach and resources to our providers,” Partners in Care Chairman Dr. Steven Goldberg said in a press release.
Photo: Flickr user Doug Kerr
