Med Tech Solutions, a Valencia-based health care cloud computing company, has acquired the health information technology business unit of Constellation Inc.
“We knew them from the industry,” said James Deck, CEO of MTS. “Constellation, which is an insurance company, was looking to divest their IT operations. The two companies have a similar culture, vision, strategy and values.” He said the move will help the company better serve its clients and promote continued growth.
Constellation has a base of operations in Minneapolis, so the acquisition is expected to help Med Tech expand its presence in the Midwest and increase the number of health IT experts who specialize in NextGen and other clinical systems.
Constellation is a Minneapolis-based holding company of policyholder-owned insurers and other organizations providing medical liability insurance and services that support physicians and other health care providers.
“The main benefit is to expand our footprint in the Central and Eastern time zones,” Deck said. “The acquisition grows our company by about 30-35 percent, and adds twenty employees.”
One of those twenty is Steve Heimel, Constellation’s vice president of health IT operations, has been named chief operating officer of MTS. Heimel will oversee technology and delivery, the project management office and client management.
“Bringing Steve on board is one of the key steps for us to take toward building a fully integrated cloud-first health care IT platform,” said Deck. “Steve’s background and experience complement our leadership team as we look to advance MTS to our next stage of operational maturity and sustained growth. As a high-growth, fast-paced cloud and health care IT services company, MTS and our customers will benefit immensely with Steve as COO.”
MTS works with healthcare payers and providers to provide health information technology and cloud solutions. It has regional offices in St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Morristown, N.J.
“The core of our growth is in cloud-based services,” Deck said. “We’ve built out our own servers and storage capacity in Los Angeles and in New Jersey.”
Its main competitors are OTech Group in Jackson, Wisc., and Phreesia, based in New York City, Deck said, though he added that both companies were more tightly focused on patient check-in technology.
“Our clients are small and mid-size medical clinics and ambulatory care facilities,” Deck said. “We provide a much less expensive IT solution than if they tried to build it on their own. And they don’t have to worry about making the wrong decisions. We have them covered. We’re helping these smaller groups remain independent and compete against larger players in their market.”
Over the next twelve to eighteen months, one focus of the company will be to “enable patients to be able to carry and share their medical records on their phones, regardless of where they get their coverage or who their provider is,” Deck said.
“The technology is there. The challenge is to help providers understand the value to them in reduced cost and improved customer service. It’s analogous to when the banks got together to make ATMs possible. They wouldn’t have cooperated unless they saw the value to themselves.”
Deck said MTS is always looking at growth opportunities, but that no acquisitions are imminent. “Our mission is to reduce the complexity of health care IT.”
He added that political uncertainty about possible changes to or repeal of the Affordable Care Act is not a significant factor for the company. “Technology will be part of the future no matter what happens in Washington. Health care providers are always looking to reduce their costs.”
