Revenue cycle outfit R1 acquires SaaS technology company SCI Solutions for $190 million

Revenue cycle management technology company R1 RCM has announced a definitive agreement to acquire SCI Solutions, a provider of SaaS-based scheduling and patient access solutions, for approximately $190 million in cash.

The goal of SCI's platform is to streamline the patient and provider experience, creating efficient care networks where health systems' capacity is digitally and conveniently accessible to the whole market.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

With consumer self-scheduling and provider order facilitation, SCI's EHR-agnostic patient access and care coordination solutions support more than 94,000 providers and 1,200 sites of care that comprise $225 billion of potential net patient revenue country-wide.

R1 expects to deliver enhanced value for its customers by enabling providers to expand digital front door strategies for their patients, improve operating efficiency, and increase capacity utilization, among other benefits.

SCI's digital patient experience platform allows patients to search for physicians, schedule appointments and complete their onboarding across all care settings -- all in an effort to improve experience for patients and streamline workflows for patient scheduling and access teams.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. R1 intends to fund the transaction with a combination of cash from its balance sheet and debt.

THE LARGER TREND

The acceleration of technological advancement, paired with rising healthcare spending, are the key factors driving the growth of the healthcare revenue cycle management market, which is projected to be worth $104 billion globally by 2025, according to 2019 findings from ResearchandMarkets.com.

Increasing government spending is partially driving the market's growth, along with initiatives to encourage the adoption of third-party revenue cycle solutions.

One of the reasons the market outlook is so strong is because partnerships with third-party vendors have been working: About 90% of claim denials are prevented with help from service providers.

Yet despite this, 25.5% of U.S. hospitals lack revenue cycle management services, due in part to a lack of awareness of the technology that now exists. The percentage of hospitals without these services has gone down over the years, however; in 2012, 35% of hospitals either lacked revenue cycle management services or were unaware of them.

Revenue cycle management can be a tricky beast, and whether to seek help from an outside vendor is a question with which many health systems struggle. While it may not be the best fit for every hospital or system, there are certain signs that using a third party may be the way to go -- and looking at key performance indicators can often be what tips the scale.

ON THE RECORD

"Patient scheduling is a critical component of the revenue cycle process, and yet is too often a major pain point for referring providers and health systems," said Joe Flanagan, president and CEO of R1. "With SCI's capabilities integrated into our leading revenue cycle solution, we believe that R1 offers our customers the broadest and deepest tech-enabled patient intake solution available. We look forward to welcoming the SCI team to R1."

"R1 and SCI share a common vision of improving the patient experience in healthcare and reducing the administrative burden on providers," said Joel French, CEO of SCI Solutions. "By leveraging R1's deep operating experience, leading revenue cycle tools and scale in the industry, SCI's potential to meaningfully engage consumers at every point in their healthcare journey can be fully realized."
 

Twitter: @JELagasse

Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com