Narayan AmmachchiGlobal IT services provider Cognizant has reached a deal to acquire Bolder Healthcare Solutions, a Louisville, Kentucky-based provider of revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions to hospitals, physician practices and other specialist healthcare organizations.
Owner of multiple RCM providers, Bolder has employed more than 1,500 people across its facilities in both the United States and India.
This is Cognizant’s second major acquisition in the US healthcare IT sector after it purchased TMG Health in June last year. The company’s largest acquisition in this sector was Colorado-based TriZetto, whom it bought for US$2.7 billion. Healthcare IT services now account for more than 29% of its revenue.
Among the services Bolder provides include insurance billing, legacy accounts receivable management, debt collection, and Medicaid eligibility enrollment. Bolder grew bigger in January last year when it acquired a fellow health-care RCM provider, Business Dynamics.
The acquisition brings in more business for Cognizant from the US healthcare market, besides expanding its offerings in data analytics, cognitive computing and robotic process automation segments, the company said in a press release.
RCM solutions have become increasingly popular in recent years. The software typically integrates and automates administrative and medical data to ensure benefit eligibility and accurate billing and collections, and greatly reducing the time between delivery and payment.
Michael Shay, CEO of Bolder, said that hospitals and providers “require a specialized RCM approach to maximize cash flow, lower costs, enhance financial performance and ensure new regulatory compliance demands are met.”
“As the healthcare industry continues to undergo a significant transformation to a value-based care model, digital RCM services and solutions remove complexity and allow providers to streamline their operations,” said Kaushik Bhaumik, executive vice president and global head of healthcare at Cognizant. “RCM solutions help providers focus on the quality of patient care.”
In the near future, retirees will outnumber children. This means, among others, that the number of people who need medical assistance is also on the rise. The healthcare industry must find the resources to adapt to this new demographic trend. Robotic process automation in healthcare should thus be taken full advantage of, in the attempt to provide adequate medical care to a larger number of people. The positive effects of automation in the healthcare industry extend beyond this aspect. Additionally, it can make a significant contribution to cutting down costs and to providing better customer care.