July 18, 2017 – Solganick & Co. has issued its latest Healthcare IT M&A Update for Q2 2017.  You can access the complete report here:   Solganick Co Healthcare IT Update Q2 2017

The following summarizes the report:

• In 1H 2017, there were a total of 90 Healthcare IT M&A transactions, compared to 110 in 1H 2016. M&A activity in the second quarter of 2017 was down with 41 M&A transactions (five disclosed) compared to the 49 M&A transactions (seven disclosed) in Q1 2017.
• Practice Management Solutions and Data Analytics companies were involved in the most M&A transactions in Q2 2017 with five each, followed by Medical Imaging companies with three transactions.
• Prominent M&A transactions in Q2 2017 included: the acquisition of Best Doctors for $440 million by Teladoc, Cochlear’s acquisition of Sycle for $78 million, athenahealth’s acquisition of Praxify Technologies for $63 million, and the acquisition of Entrada by NextGen Healthcare (a subsidiary of Quality Systems) for $34 million.
• Valuations for publicly traded Healthcare IT companies averaged 4.0x EV/Revenues this latest quarter.
• Q2 2017  is turning out to be a spectacular quarter for Healthcare IT funding with the total VC funding amount reaching $2.4 billion, making it the best quarter ever for digital health. This is also the first time VC funding has crossed $2 billion in a single quarter. Funding activity was led by mega deals from Outcome Health, Moderning Medicine, PatientPoint and Blink Health, who together accounted for almost a billion dollars.

2017 Healthcare IT M&A Trends & Drivers

Demand for data storage, cloud technology, analytics, interoperability, cybersecurity, smart medical devices and electronic health record (EHR) management will help drive industry growth in 2017. Consumerization is also driving HCIT M&A activity. Individuals have become accustomed to paying for many of their healthcare expenses out-of-pocket and seek ways to empower their purchasing decisions through education and personalized care. As the industry becomes more customer-centric, buyers are turning to digital health solutions (such as online training and smartphone applications) by which they can promote value-based business models.

Cloud Computing in Healthcare: Overcoming Barriers and Evolving

Due to concerns about security, transparency, availability and uptime – where technology failure can pose a risk to patient safety – some healthcare professionals hesitate to move to the cloud. While these apprehensions may be valid, they are surmountable. As this eBook shows, HIMSS17 provided an excellent venue to discuss how various players are optimizing patient care, engagement and business operations using the cloud, along with where this technology is taking us.

Patient Engagement

Though the original motivation may remain the same, the methods and technologies that enable patient engagement are changing. This theme showed up strongly throughout HIMSS17. In fact, perhaps “engagement” itself has even become an inadequate term. As seen in this eBook, “personalization” and “empowerment” may be better descriptors of how digital innovations in connected health are changing the ability of patients to take ownership of their respective health experiences.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Poised to Transform Healthcare Delivery

From predictive security to productive analytics to bot-based patient engagement, applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning will surely revolutionize healthcare tomorrow. But make no mistake: they’re already making an impact today.

Big Data and Analytics: Leveraging Synergies to Support Outcomes

As the relationship between big data and analytics matures, new concepts are in the offing. Such as the application of cognitive learning, which means looking at as many factors as possible outside the actual medical record to more fully understand a particular patient’s health condition.

As more opportunities arise to collect and track big data, the extent to which systems and devices can interchange information has grown increasingly crucial. Furthermore, new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy requirements under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), Merit-based-Incentive Payments System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs) are expected to drive the need for new data exchange solutions in 2017. Key interoperability projects for HCIT executives in 2017 will be: connecting external databases to exchanges, connecting applications within the organization and adding connections from medical devices to existing systems, according to a survey by Healthcare IT News.

Source: Healthcare IT News

Solganick & Co. is an independent investment bank and M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on technology and digital media companies. With an active M&A advisory practice within the healthcare IT sector, its professionals have completed over $20 billion in transactions.  Offices located in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston.  For more information please contact us.

You can download the full report here:  Solganick Co Healthcare IT Update Q2 2017

Mergers & Acquisitions; Healthcare IT; HealthTech; Digital Health