CPSI, a community healthcare solutions company, announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Get Real Health. Based in Rockville, Maryland, Get Real Health delivers technology solutions to improve patient outcomes and engagement strategies with care providers. Their broad set of cutting-edge products have garnered awards for the company and its clients and earned them a reputation as a vanguard in the healthcare information technology (IT) industry.
Get Real Health has established a presence in both domestic and international healthcare markets. Collaborating with organizations like TELUS Health, the University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust and KeyHIE, Get Real Health delivers solutions to government and private organizations in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States.
In addition, earlier this month, Get Real Health launched its latest product, Lydia, when it was identified by Microsoft as a destination for HealthVault users to transition their existing data after the pending retirement of HealthVault. Lydia is a trusted place where people can organize, store and share their health information with family and healthcare providers.
Boyd Douglas
“The demographics and population make-up of the communities we serve support the growing demand for strategies and tools to address the on-going management of chronic care conditions, which are prevalent in these areas,” said Boyd Douglas, president and chief executive officer of CPSI. “Helping our customers secure the future of community healthcare is what we focus on each and every day. By acquiring Get Real Health, we can continue this effort as providers evolve to a value-based care delivery model.”
Get Real Health’s line of innovative patient-facing products will complement CPSI’s existing offerings. CPSI acute and ambulatory customers will be able to use InstantPHR and CHBase to engage their patients in a much deeper way than traditional patient portals. The company’s Ellie app will allow CPSI customers to improve their patients’ health outcomes while strengthening their own bottom lines. Get Real Health also brings a decade’s worth of international business experience and connections, opening potential new markets for CPSI’s existing offerings. Conversely, CPSI’s greater resources and capabilities will help Get Real Health scale to serve existing and new customers and markets.
CPSI anticipates that this acquisition will yield approximately $1.0 million in annual cost synergies, primarily from the replacement of CPSI’s existing patient engagement solutions. Additionally, the acquisition is expected to be accretive to Adjusted EBITDA for 2019.
Robin Wiener, president, chief executive officer and founding partner of Get Real Health, said: “When we met the CPSI management team, there was an instant realization that we could do something amazing together. In addition to the opportunity to bring our solutions to hundreds of communities across the United States already serviced by CPSI, we will continue to empower patients around the world.”
Transaction Summary
The contemplated total aggregate consideration to be paid by CPSI is $11 million, payable in cash, subject to certain adjustments at and after closing, as provided for in the purchase agreement, plus an earn-out payment of up to a maximum of $14 million, depending on the EBITDA performance of Get Real Health during 2019. The completion of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and is targeted to close in the second quarter of 2019.
To finance the transaction, CPSI will use a draw of approximately $11 million under its existing senior secured revolving credit facility.
Get Real Health has been chosen by Microsoft as a destination for HealthVault users who will be moving their existing data after the pending retirement of HealthVault, announced on April 5. As personal health experts who have worked with the HealthVault platform since before it was publicly launched, Get Real Health was the logical choice to provide a secure future for all of the information currently gathered in HealthVault.
Robin Wiener
“This is like getting back to our roots—to the heart of what we do,” says CEO and president, Robin Wiener. “Connecting a client to HealthVault was how we first developed a passion for connected health and was the impetus for our shift away from professional services to creating patient engagement tools.”
By simply clicking on three buttons, HealthVault account holders will have data migrated to Get Real Health’s Lydia platform boasting enhanced features and usability. Some of the advanced features that HealthVault users will see in Lydia include:
Apple and Android native apps
A brand new sleek user experience
Connection to a growing number of health devices
The ability to upload health data from any doctor or hospital
Securely share all health data for your entire family
Access simply through Touch ID and (upcoming) Face ID
Continuity of using HealthVault credentials for Lydia login
“We have come a long way since those early HealthVault days,” explains Wiener. “We are excited to let these consumers see their data come to life with our app.”
All data will be available to individuals through the yourlifeyourdata.com website and Lydia Your Life Your Data from the Android and Apple app stores. Your Life Your Data is the mantra driving Lydia users to be able to interact with their personal health data in more dynamic ways. Tracking chronic disease, exercise, diet and health metrics will not only be easier but also have broader practical applications.
“We applaud Microsoft for launching HealthVault and launching millions of users on the journey to better health,” says Wiener. “Now we want to give those people even better tools to use that data in more meaningful ways to improve habits and overall wellness.”
Guest post by Jennifer Dunphy, clinical subject matter expert, Get Real Health.
You would think Barbara must be feeling pretty glum. After all, cancer has been part of her life on and off since 1981. She is battling a recurrence of her breast cancer, on top of having had a radical mastectomy and uterine cancer.
Yet, when Barbara used an Internet-based mental health screening tool recently to assess her risk for mood or anxiety problems, she finished the test with a score of six — indicating a low probability of suffering from mental health issues.
As an oncology nurse, I’ve seen how cancer and other chronic diseases can affect a patient’s mental and emotional wellbeing, as well as how their mental health can have a huge impact on their physical response to treatment and their ability to recover. So, assessing patients’ mental health is just as important as tracking their vital signs and white blood-cell counts.
Unfortunately, mental health has always been a tricky subject for everyone involved in a cancer patient’s life — from the doctor and care team to the patient and his or her family and friends. Uncertainty and a lack of clear ground rules for how to even talk about it often result in people simply avoiding the topic.
“Cancer used to be considered a death sentence,” Barbara recalls, “so everyone tiptoed around it and you were encouraged not to talk about it. It was like a little secret.”
While that’s changed a little over the years, she believes better communication is still very much needed.
“I would (address) the emotional aspect early on as part of the intake process,” says Barbara. “The doctors should be more upfront in the beginning about how they communicate your situation.”
That’s good advice, but easier said than done. While some doctors and nurses seem to be naturally gifted in their ability to talk with patients warmly and holistically, I’ve seen many others struggle to communicate about topics beyond the strictly medical.
It’s tough for a lot of patients as well. Barbara has been strong enough emotionally to reach out when she needs information or support, but many other patients are as uncomfortable discussing mental and emotional health as their caregivers.
The hard part is just getting the conversation started. That’s where technology has a pivotal role to play — and it can be as simple and accessible as the nearest smartphone, tablet or computer.
The online mental health screening tool Barbara used is called WhatsMyM3. She said she found it “easy to work with and user friendly, even for someone with a low computer proficiency.”
That feedback was music to my ears, because mental health screening technology has to be simple, quick and accurate in order to be widely adopted and used effectively. It also must serve as a two-way communication bridge between the patient and physician.
The M3 score isn’t simply a number. It’s an invitation for the patient and caregiver to take the next step and talk in-depth about what the score means, how the patient is feeling, what questions the patient might have that he or she has bottled up out of fear or awkwardness.
In other words, the technology enables a very human conversation to ensue. It’s a great example of technology creating a path to healing that would not otherwise have easily or naturally opened up. And it’s a tool that the care team can use as often as it deems necessary with that patient — including daily monitoring and communication if indicated by a higher M3 score.
WhatsMyM3 is powered by a product called M3 Clinician, an evidence-based Web and mobile reimbursable mental health screening app for mood and anxiety disorders, which was developed by Rockville, Maryland-based M3 Information LLC.
(Full disclosure: M3 partnered with my company, Get Real Health, earlier this year to integrate the M3 app into our InstantPHR product — a flexible and interoperable suite of Web-based health tools for personal health, data visualization and care management.)
Living with a chronic disease like cancer taxes the coping skills of every patient. Using technology to track and hopefully improve mental and emotional wellbeing gives patients one more tool to use in fighting what is likely the biggest battle of their lives.
Hospitals and eligible professionals that have yet to meet their meaningful use requirements are facing a good news/bad news scenario. First the bad news: The clock is ticking, as major deadlines loom. The good news: It’s not too late to hop aboard the MU train, although some running might be required. If you’re among those seeking MU attestation this year, here are key points you need to know.
2014 Certified?
Before you take one more step, make sure your technology vendor is 2014 certified. Regardless of whether you are attesting to meaningful use Stage 1 or Stage 2, all eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals (EHs)/Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are now required to use an ONC 2014 Edition Certified technology to successfully attest to both MU1 and MU2.
You might have been under the impression that Stage 1 corresponds with the 2011 Edition and Stage 2 corresponds to the 2014 Edition. This is not the case, but your confusion is understandable.
What happened? When meaningful use was first introduced, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published MU Stage 1 and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published the 2011 Edition Certification; then MU Stage 2 and the 2014 Edition Certification Criteria were released within days of one another.
CPSI, a community healthcare solutions company, announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Get Real Health. Based in Rockville, Maryland, Get Real Health delivers technology solutions to improve patient outcomes and engagement strategies with care providers. Their broad set of cutting-edge products have garnered awards for the company and its clients and earned them a reputation as a vanguard in the healthcare information technology (IT) industry.
