HIT: Per-Se, Wolters Kluwer to acquire NDCHealth

Software maker Per-Se Technologies and Wolters Kluwer said they would pay $1 billion to essentially split up Atlanta-based healthcare information provider NDCHealth. NDC had been shopping itself for some time. The deal gives physician services giant Per-Se control of the company's physician, hospital and retail pharmacy transaction businesses. Wolters Kluwer gets NDCHealth's information management unit for $382 million. That unit competes with pharma information giant IMS Health, itself recently purchased by another Dutch giant, VNU.

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