The Month's 5 Mega Mergers in Health Tech

^{Image has been resized. Courtesy of Tech in Asia, Flickr, Andre Gunawan.}

December was a busy one for the business side of healthcare and technology. Billions of dollars shuffled around as companies merged, bought others out, and struck partnerships.

The news broke early, just as the holiday season was taking off, when CVS announced its merger with Aetna, one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States. Movement continued until Christmas, with Humana and a team of equity firms buying Kindred Healthcare in the week before the holiday.

Healthcare Analytics News™ documented it all. Here’s a rundown of our coverage of the month’s mergers that made headlines in healthcare and beyond.

CVS’s $69 billion Aetna deal. The pharmacy and health and wellness giant has come a long way since its birth in Massachusetts little more than a half-century ago. Its $69 billion merger with Aetna proves that. The 2 parties underlined the potential of greater data analytics to glean insights and add value.

Humana and friends buy Kindred Healthcare for $4.1 billion. This transaction splintered Kindred into 2 separate companies, including a new brand that will home in on home health, hospice, and community care. Humana, meanwhile, saw the opportunity as a chance to advance its value-based care mission. “The insights we've gained from owning home health agencies demonstrates the value of having a home health platform to evolve capabilities and services, including integration of data, advancing moments of influence and transforming home health to value-based reimbursement,” Humana CEO Bruce Broussard said.

Penn State Health and Highmark announce $1 billion partnership. This union is all about analytics, population health, and value-based care models, especially for chronic conditions. The Keystone State duo called the initiative “game-changing,” a move that at a Penn State official hopes “enhances overall health and wellness and creates increased opportunity for collaboration with community physicians.”

Population Health companies ApolloMed and NMM become one. This merger brought the care management of more than 700,000 patients under a single company, establishing “1 of the nation’s largest population health management companies.” Apollo expanded its reach to more than 4000 doctors, medical groups, and other organizations, offering clients claims processing, contracting, credentialing, data collection, analytics, and more.

Doctor.com merges with Connect Healthcare. After dating for 2 years, these companies decided to make it official. Doctor.com provides clients with digital and web services, manicuring the online reputations of physicians, scheduling services, and reeling in large heaps of data. Connect Healthcare added to directory tools, analytics knowhow, and information management capabilities to the toolbox.