Appriss Health, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., and Insight Partners, announced Tuesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PatientPing.
Though terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the deal values care coordination technology provider PatientPing at around $500 million, people familiar with the transaction told PE Hub.
Louisville, Kentucky-based Appriss Health provides a data analytics platform that delivers insights on behavioral health conditions to clinicians and pharmacists in a variety of settings, said Rob Cohen, president of the company, in a phone interview.
For data, the platform relies on information garnered from prescription drug monitoring programs in the U.S., Cohen said. Appriss Health provides the technology for a majority of these programs, which track controlled substance prescriptions in a state.
Further, the platform allows clinicians to connect patients with behavioral health treatment, such as referring them to substance abuse programs or mental health resources. The company also leverages this referral information to glean patient insights, while following health privacy laws.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Boston-based PatientPing provides complementary services, Cohen said. PatientPing’s platform connects various sites of care — including hospitals, post-acute care facilities and skilled nursing facilities — to provide care managers and clinicians with a full picture of their patient’s care journey.
The care coordination platform uses admissions, discharge and transfers data to alert clinicians when their patients are admitted to a hospital or transferred to a post-acute facility. It also shares patients’ clinical histories at the point of care.
The acquisition will create an expansive network and add a new set of capabilities to Appriss Health’s offerings, Cohen said.
“We are very strong in behavioral health, [and] PatientPing has some behavioral health[-focused services] but is very strong in post-acute,” Cohen said. “So the actual sites of care that we are connecting are complementary.”
The deal is expected to close in the next 45 to 60 days, but what comes next is not certain.
The companies are in the planning stage, Cohen said. So they cannot say as yet what their first priority as a combined company will be, including whether they will integrate their existing platforms or create a new one.
“What we know is that in order to truly impact care and then truly impact health you’ve got to impact all phases [of a care journey, including] any behavioral health issues, any physical health issues, chronic conditions, there could be social determinants of health at play,” Cohen said. “You’ve got to impact the whole person and [provide] whole-person care in order to really drive better outcomes. And together we’re able to do that more effectively than apart.”
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