Eligibility services company sold to three equity investment firms
Chamberlin, Edmonds and Associates, a company that provides specialized eligibility determination services to hospitals, has been acquired
The Atlanta-based company was acquired by three equity investment firms, which include New York-based Charterhouse Group, Dallas-based Highlander Partners LP, and New York-based MTS Health Investors LLC.
Terms of the transaction were not announced. GE Healthcare Financial Services served as arranger and administrative agent for the deal, while CIT Healthcare provided the senior financing for the acquisition.
Baird Investment Banking served as the financial advisor to Chamberlin Edmonds on the deal. It was the third revenue cycle management-related deal for Baird in the past 12 months, said a spokesperson for that company.
In its business, Chamberlin Edmonds serves as patient advocates and provides comprehensive eligibility determination services for hospitals, governments and managed care organizations. It has contracts with 160 customers in 27 states, working with their patients to guide them through complex application processes to secure government and community reimbursement for uncompensated care expenses.
The company operates through a network of six resolution centers and has an estimated 650 employees.
Recently, the company announced signing a contract with 979-bed St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, one of the nation's largest Catholic hospitals and the second largest hospital in St. Louis, and with 281-bed Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden, Ala.
Founder Judith Starkey, CEO T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and Executive Vice Presidents Kirk Reid and Brian Sadler continue as significant shareholders in Chamberlin Edmonds.
"CEA provides tremendous value to its hospital customers," said C. Taylor Cole, Jr., a partner at Charterhouse. "Without CEA's services, many hospitals would forego much needed financial resources that help sustain their ability to provide critical healthcare services to communities across the country. We are quite excited to help CEA continue its impressive growth, and we look forward to working with Highlander and MTS, who both have significant knowledge and relationships that are highly strategic to CEA."
