In the latest deal combining a major outsourcing company with a fast-growing healthcare IT specialist, payroll services vendor ADP said it will acquire AdvancedMD, a leading provider of practice management and EMR software to small and medium-sized healthcare organizations. With around $9 billion in annual revenue, ADP is among the largest vendors of business outsourcing solutions, including HR, payroll and benefits services. Through its small-business unit, the company already has an extensive client list among physicians, comprising 45,000-plus physicians in around 13,500 practices.
The plan is to “compete effectively for the small- and mid-sized physician practice market, which is going through a rapid technology adoption cycle and moving aggressively toward outsourced solutions," said Jan Siegmund, ADP’s chief strategy officer.
At the core of AdvancedMD’s technology is a cloud-based, software-as-a-service platform that allows physicians to access patient records from any Internet-connected device, including laptops, tablet computers and smartphones. The combination with ADP should allow cost-reducing and revenue-enhancing functions like real-time processing of insurance claims and instantaneous recording of patient visits and services rendered – record-keeping that many smaller practices currently struggle with. ADP describes this as “Medical Practice Optimization."
The adoption of outsourced and cloud-based records and billing systems is being driven by “emerging technology standards, coupled with incentives related to the HITECH Act," said AdvancedMD CEO Eric Morgan.
AdvancedMD's M.D. customers number more than 10,000,the company says, in 4,100 practices, along with 300-plus regional billing partners. The purchase marks the latest in a string of acquisitions of EMR vendors by established software and outsourcing providers in the wider enterprise market.
