The health care information technology company Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. is buying rival Eclipsys Corp. for about $1.3 billion in stock, the companies said Wednesday.
Allscripts is a leader in providing physicians and their offices with ways to keep tabs on patient care records while Eclipsys provides similar services for hospitals and health systems. Those records include test results and medical histories.
The combined company’s client base will include over 180,000 U.S. physicians, 1,500 hospitals, and nearly 10,000 nursing homes, hospices and home care organizations, the companies said.
The combined company’s increased size and resources may also give its clients greater access to about $30 billion in federal funding for hospital and physician adoption of electronic health records as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the companies said. The incentives, which aim to shift the health care system to more efficient portable electronic records from paper records, begin in 2011.
“For the first time, we have a company with the size, scale and reach to allow that to happen, said Allscripts Chairman and CEO Glen Tullman, citing the shift to electronic records. “Think of this as doing what the Internet did for computers.”
Adoption of electronic records by physicians is projected to grow from 12 percent to 90 percent by 2019, the companies said, citing a Congressional Budget Office’s March 2009 report. That same report said total spending on health care services would shrink because of the reduction in paperwork and inappropriate tests, along with lower administrative overhead. The report did not provide an estimate, but said there would likely be lower costs for private payers and lower health insurance premiums in the private sector.
Under the deal, Eclipsys shareholders will receive 1.2 Allscripts shares for each Eclipsys share, a 19 percent premium over its closing price Tuesday, the companies said.
Shares of Allscripts, based…