Athenahealth bought by private equity firms Hellman & Friedman, Bain Capital

Cloud computing vendor athenahealth announced Monday that it would be jointly acquired by affiliates of Bain Cash and Hellman & Friedman for $17 billion.

The business, which provides digital health and fitness report and health practitioner observe tools, said the expenditure was predicted to be concluded in the initial quarter of 2022.  

Chair and CEO Bob Segert will keep on in his position, reported athenahealth in a press launch, as will the latest management group.  

“Our staff, customers and companions are the source of our achievement and inspiration as we produce a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, substantial-quality and sustainable health care for all,” said Segert in a assertion.  

WHY IT Issues

Athenahealth, which was acquired by personal equity companies Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Cash in 2019 for $5.7 billion, suggests it presently companions with additional than 140,000 ambulatory treatment vendors in all 50 states and throughout extra than 120 specialties.  

In 2020, athenahealth released a new EHR-embedded telehealth tool. According to Jessica Sweeney-Platt, vice president of analysis and editorial system, the company has made available 18.4 million virtual appointments in excess of the past 12 months.  

“Now marks a significant milestone for athenahealth and our partnership with Veritas Money and Evergreen Coast Capital, and we are thrilled to do the job with Hellman & Friedman and Bain Capital to generate the upcoming stage of our progress journey,” explained Segert.  

But the vendor has also confronted hurdles.   

Before that acquisition – which provided a merger with Virence Wellbeing, also owned by Veritas – the organization had confronted troubles, like an activist investor marketing campaign from Elliott Administration the stepdown of founder and former CEO Jonathan Bush amid allegations of sexual harassment and domestic abuse and layoffs of 9% of the workforce.    

And this January, the U.S. Office of Justice introduced that the company agreed to spend $18.25 million to resolve Phony Promises Act violation allegations. A spokesperson for the firm claimed it admitted no wrongdoing under the settlement.  

Still, the company’s new house owners voiced optimism for its long run expansion.  

“Provided our deep working experience in software and health care, we are excited to do the job with Bob and the government crew to swiftly scale the small business and continue on to innovate and improve along with our most disruptive and progressive ambulatory treatment purchasers to construct the foundations of a multi-sided digital treatment community involving individual, payer and supplier,” Allen Thorpe, lover at Hellman & Friedman, reported in a statement.  

THE Bigger Trend  

November has found several massive income moves in the health and fitness IT house, with application-as-a-service business EverCommerce asserting its new possession of EHR vendor DrChrono and the newly introduced FemTec Health and fitness buying attractiveness box organization Birchbox and social marketing and advertising platform Liquid Grids.

Meanwhile, GE claimed it would spin off its health care division, GE Health care, in early 2023. Virence Overall health, which merged with athenahealth, was when GE Healthcare’s benefit-dependent treatment arm.  

ON THE File  

“More than the course of our thriving partnership with Bob and the administration team, athenahealth has driven large advancement and transformation, reinforcing its situation as the premier health care IT business supporting the premier nationwide community of healthcare providers,” Ramzi Musallam, CEO and taking care of associate of Veritas Funds, stated in a assertion.  

“Adhering to our just take-private and combination with Virence in 2019, athenahealth delivered unequalled value to its prospects by appreciably growing R&D expenditure resulting in better excellent care, decreased costs throughout the healthcare ecosystem and total enhanced individual outcomes,” he reported.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT Information.
Twitter: @kjercich
Electronic mail: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.