Allscripts-Misys buying Eclipsys in $1.3B deal combining healthcare information tech companies

Allscripts buying healthcare info rival Eclipsys

NEW YORK — 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 in Chicago, fell $1.66, or 9 percent, to $16.76 in morning trading Wednesday while shares of Eclipsys, based in Atlanta, rose 53 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $19.04.

Allscripts’ Tullman will be CEO of the combined company while Eclipsys CEO Phil Pead will be chairman.

The deal has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors and is subject to shareholder approval of both companies.

Separately, the British information services company Misys PLC will reduce its almost 55 percent stake in Allscripts to 10 percent through an underwritten secondary equity offering of its Allscripts shares and by selling shares to Allscripts.

Misys acquired a 54.5 percent stake in Allscripts for $330 million in 2008.

In a separate deal in the healthcare technology field, Cardinal Health Inc. said Wednesday it is buying Healthcare Solutions Holding LLC for $517 million, in a move to expand its tools and services for health care data and claims management.

UBS, Barclays Capital and J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisors to Allscripts in the Eclipsys deal.

Allscripts expects its buyout of Eclipsys to boost net income, excluding charges, in 2011. The company expects its fiscal year net income in 2010 to reach the high end of its 64 cents to 65 cents per share guidance, excluding charges, on revenue between $700 million and $705 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect net income of 65 cents per share on $702.3 million in revenue.

The fiscal year ends in May. After the buyout closes, Allscripts expects to report financial results on a calendar year basis.