TMCnet News

Streamline Health Reports the Acquisition of Meta Health Technology
[August 22, 2012]

Streamline Health Reports the Acquisition of Meta Health Technology


Aug 22, 2012 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- Streamline Health Solutions, Inc., a provider of enterprise content management and business analytics solutions for healthcare organizations, announced the acquisition of New York City-based Meta Health Technology, Inc., a provider of health information management solutions for hospitals, clinics, physician group practices and long-term care facilities across the U.S. and Canada.



"The acquisition of Meta, with its outstanding reputation in the health information management (HIM) space, represents the continuation of our on-going growth strategy andas with the Interpoint Partners acquisition last yearis reflective of our organization becoming more market-facing where our solutions development is led by the needs and requirements of our clients and the marketplace in general," said Robert E. Watson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Streamline Health Solutions. "Our clients, as well as all providers throughout the country, are facing the looming challenge of converting from ICD-9 to ICD-10. The Meta suite of solutions, when bundled with our existing solutions, will help current and prospective clients better prepare for this challenge. In addition, the pending release of a computer-assisted coding solution (CAC) will place Streamline Health at the core of addressing the complexities of the ICD-10 transition.

As we move forward, we believe that the integration of our business analytics solutions with the coding solutions acquired in this transaction will position us to address the complicated issues of clinical analytics as our clients prepare for the proposed changes in commercial and governmental payment models. This transaction firmly establishes our company as a "go-to" vendor of enterprise health information technology solutions." "After 34 years of continued growth and success in the market, Meta's acquisition by Streamline Health represents a natural progression, as the resources that Streamline Health brings will enable us to better serve our clients and to even further expand our product and service offerings," said Eli Nahmias, President & Chief Executive Officer of Meta Health Technology. "In addition to implementing our software at a client's site, we will now be able to offer it on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis, which will eliminate the need for a hospital to invest time and resources in implementation. These new channels will enable us to be even more successful going forward." The Company noted Barbara Hinkle-Azzara, RHIA, Chief Operations Officer of Meta who will join Streamline Health as Vice President and General Manager for this subsidiary, stated "Our entire team of associates is excited to join the Streamline Health team and to have the opportunity to work towards advancing our collective vision to become a world-class healthcare information technology company. Together we can continue to provide industry-leading solutions for health information management to our clients and the marketplace, as well as to bring Streamline Health's robust suite of content management and business analytics solutions to Meta's clients." Streamline Health acquired the outstanding capital stock of Meta for approximately $15 million, comprised of $13.4 million in cash and $1.6 million in Streamline Health stock at a price equal to the average of the previous 10 days closing price as reported by NASDAQ. In conjunction with this acquisition, Streamline Health has restructured its financing agreement with Fifth Third Bank whereby the bank will provide the Company with a new $5 million revolving line of credit, a $5 million senior term loan, and a $9 million subordinated term loan, a portion of which was used to re-finance the previously outstanding $4.1 million subordinated term loan. The new financing package brings Streamline Health's average cost of capital down to approximately 8.5 percent. This financing plus the company's on-hand cash funded the Meta Health Technology, Inc. acquisition.


In a separate transaction, the company said it completed a $12 million equity investment led by Great Point Partners (GPP), Greenwich, CT and Noro-Moseley Partners (NMP), Atlanta, GA. As part of this investment, the company issued no dividend convertible preferred stock, which has the right to convert to common stock on a one for one basis at $3 per share, and warrants to purchase common stock. In addition, the company issued convertible notes, which, upon shareholder approval, will convert into the same series of convertible preferred stock noted earlier. As part of this transaction, the membership of the Board of Directors of the company was increased from 7 to 9. Accordingly, Allen Moseley, General Partner at NMP, has joined our board of directors. The additional board member will be identified at a later time.

"We are proud and excited to have the teams from GPP and NMP invested in Streamline Health," said Robert E. Watson, President and CEO. "This investment, by two well-known healthcare-focused investment funds not only provides us with the capital to address our growth plans going forward, but it also validates our vision for Streamline Health." Rohan Saikia, Senior Vice President at GPP, said "As a growing, dynamic and well-positioned leading provider of health information technology solutions including enterprise content management, business analytics and integrated workflow systems, Streamline Health is a perfect fit with Great Point Partners. We're pleased to partner with Streamline Health during this exciting period of their corporate history." Allen Moseley, General Partner of NMP, said "We look forward to actively participating in the next phase of growth for Streamline Health. We believe their expanding suite of solutions in health information management and business analytics solutions will be in great demand throughout the industry." Streamline Health was represented by Coker Capital Advisors, Atlanta, GA in its acquisition of Meta Health Technology, Inc. First Analysis Securities Corp., Chicago, IL acted as the exclusive placement agent for the company in its financing with GPP and NMP.

Simultaneous with the closing of the Meta acquisition, Richard Leach resigned as the company's Senior Vice President, Solutions Marketing to pursue other endeavors.

More information: streamlinehealth.ne ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]