Emdeon to Acquire Change Healthcare

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Emdeon Inc. today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Change Healthcare, a market leader in healthcare consumer engagement and transparency.  Change Healthcare will enable Emdeon to offer its customers additional solutions that marry cost and quality information with a robust inventory of consumer behavioral insights.  These solutions can help employees, health plan members and patients reduce costs and become better healthcare consumers.

"Our customers are prioritizing information, insights and capabilities that enable individuals to be better healthcare consumers," said Neil de Crescenzo, Emdeon president and CEO. "While Emdeon has assisted payers, providers, pharmacies and our partner network with cost management, efficiency and maximizing revenues for many years, the addition of Change Healthcare's innovative, proven capabilities will further accelerate our customers' success. By combining our connectivity and scale with Change Healthcare's transparency and personalization capabilities, we can help our customers further increase member and patient engagement and add even more value to the services they provide their customers."

Emdeon is the largest financial, administrative and clinical health information network in the nation, processing more than seven billion transactions with a claims value of $1 trillion annually.  Emdeon's Intelligent Healthcare Network™ reaches 700,000 physicians, 81,000 dentists, 60,000 pharmacies, 5,000 hospitals, 600 vendors, 450 laboratories and 1,200 government and commercial payers.

Change Healthcare president & CEO Doug Ghertner added, "Within the complex healthcare landscape, consumers are faced with increasing costs and more choices than ever.  This transaction reinforces our commitment to transparency and consumer engagement and will enable us to deliver even more comprehensive, accurate and timely information to our users.  By joining the Emdeon team, we will have access to the resources necessary to accelerate our growth and to become the premier platform for consumer engagement in healthcare."

Change Healthcare was founded to transform the way consumers evaluate and utilize healthcare services by combining unique insights at the point of decision with sustainable engagement. With a national customer base of health plans and employers and more than 10 million lives under contract, Change Healthcare is a leading provider of healthcare consumer engagement and value-based healthcare solutions that enable consumers to:

• better understand and utilize their healthcare benefits and options;
• receive proactive insights on a dynamic basis at critical decision points;
• make informed healthcare purchasing decisions based on quality, cost and convenience; and
• manage their out-of-pocket responsibility and realize savings.

Consumers continue to enroll in high deductible health plans at a rapid pace.  Over 80% of employers now offer these plans and nearly 40% of employees have deductibles of $1,000 or more.  In addition, an increasing number of healthcare consumers are choosing their benefits through public and private health insurance exchanges. These plans offer more flexibility but often have higher out of pocket expenses, requiring consumers to better understand their healthcare benefits and find ways to maximize the value of their healthcare spend.  As a result, consumers increasingly need accurate cost and quality information before treatment as they learn to "shop" for affordable healthcare.  Creating improved consumer and provider access to cost and quality data at the point of care is a core component of any value-based healthcare delivery system and will have a significant impact on on-going healthcare expenses. 

Like Emdeon, Change Healthcare is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The rapidly growing team at Change Healthcare will join Emdeon and form the core of the company's healthcare consumer engagement business.  The business will be led by Change Healthcare's president and CEO, Doug Ghertner, who will report directly to Emdeon's CEO.

Emdeon will acquire Change Healthcare, a privately held company, for approximately $135 million in cash payable at closing, plus additional contingent payments of up to $50 million based upon the attainment of financial performance objectives of the acquired business through the end of 2017. The purchase price will be paid with a combination of available cash and funds under Emdeon's revolving senior credit facility. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close later this month.

About Emdeon
Emdeon is a leading provider of revenue and payment cycle management and clinical information exchange solutions, connecting payers, providers, pharmacies and patients in the U.S. healthcare system. Emdeon's offerings integrate and automate key business and administrative functions of its payer, provider and pharmacy customers throughout the patient encounter. Through the use of Emdeon's comprehensive suite of solutions, which are designed to easily integrate with existing technology infrastructures, customers are able to improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase cash flow and more efficiently manage the complex revenue and payment cycle and clinical information exchange processes. For more information, visit www.emdeon.com

About Change Healthcare
Established in 2007, Change Healthcare is on a mission to transform the way Americans purchase and utilize healthcare services by driving sustainable engagement at the individual level.  With a national customer base of health plans and employers, Change Healthcare is a premier national provider of healthcare consumer engagement and transparency solutions, enabling consumers to: better understand and utilize their healthcare benefits; make informed healthcare purchasing decisions based on quality, cost and convenience; and manage higher out-of-pocket responsibility and realize savings.  This, in turn, helps both health plans and employers: control their healthcare costs; successfully migrate to more cost-effective plans; optimize existing wellness programs; and improve employee satisfaction and retention.  For more information, visit www.changehealthcare.com

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release that express Emdeon's or management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or predictions of future events are forward-looking statements. These statements often include words such as "may," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or similar expressions. Such statements include statements regarding the anticipated performance of the acquired business, and the integration of the acquired business with Emdeon and the anticipated closing date of this acquisition. Forward-looking statements also may include information concerning Emdeon's possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of Emdeon's revenues, profitability, outlook and overall business strategy. You should not place undue reliance on these statements because they are subject to numerous uncertainties and factors relating to Emdeon's operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Emdeon's control. Although Emdeon believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect Emdeon's actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including the risks discussed in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections and elsewhere in Emdeon's Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2013, as well as other reports filed by Emdeon with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statement made by Emdeon herein, or elsewhere, speaks only as of the date on which made. Emdeon expressly disclaims any intent, obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein to reflect any change in Emdeon's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.

SOURCE Emdeon Inc.

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http://www.emdeon.com