Indiana health care data company hc1 completes acquisition of Accumen
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Zionsville-based hc1, a major player in the health care data and technology sector, announced Tuesday it acquired Accumen, a health care consulting firm headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The acquisition of Accumen from Arsenal Capital Partners is the latest in a series of growth moves for hc1, which bills itself as a leader in lab data analysis for health care companies.
In an interview with Inside INdiana business, hc1 founder and CEO Brad Bostic said one of hc1’s employees made a chocolate and peanut butter sandwich to illustrate how well the two companies go together. With hc1 providing the software systems to give health care providers better ways to analyze laboratory data, he said Accumen provides the consulting expertise to get hospitals to actually use the data to its highest potential.
“Health care progress starts here with driving value from actionable lab data,” Bostic said. “Now you’ve got the capabilities both technologically plus you’ve got the actual expertise needed to deliver on this value and drive the change management that’s needed.”
Bostic declined to disclose the price of the acquisition, but said he’s been familiar with Accumen since both companies were founded around the same time and that he considered attempting a merger earlier.
But the timing came together recently as the financing combined with what Bostic sees as an increased level of recognition for the usefulness of lab data in the health care system.
“Laboratory medicine is moving from something in the basement that is not really considered the driver of your overall strategy, to actually being promoted up to a centerpiece in the strategy to say how do you use that information across the continuum of care to more quickly and effectively diagnose people,” he said.
For example, Bostic said, if a patient shows up to the emergency room with ruptured kidneys, there’s only so much a hospital can do. But if hospitals are using better data and alerting the patient ahead of time that they’re at risk of kidney disease, it can result in better quality of life for the patient and less money spent for the health system.
Before the two companies merged, Bostic said hc1 had about 65 employees. That number doubled with the Accumen merger. He said no jobs were eliminated in the purchase.
But Bostic hopes the effects of the acquisition are felt beyond just the two companies. He feels combining the technological power of hc1 with the administrative know-how of Accumen will help “power up” the whole American health system by helping organizations realize the importance of the data they collect in their laboratories every day.
“You’re spending the most and not getting the highest level of outcome measures,” Bostic said of the U.S. health care system at large. “This is a way to power up across the health care system to address both of those issues.”
With headquarters in Zionsville, hc1 was founded in 2011. Bostic said hc1 manages health care data for over 90 million people.