Access Healthcare, a revenue cycle management group, announced a strategic growth investment from private equity firm New Mountain Capital to support market growth and development of new capabilities.
Tuesday morning's news comes a day after a Bloomberg report suggested an acquisition deal in its late stages and would value Access Healthcare at about $2 billion (see that story below).
Tuesday's announcement did not specify the size of New Mountain Capital's investment, though it will keep the company's existing leadership team at the helm.
"Healthcare organizations are facing unprecedented challenges in navigating complex reimbursement systems and the need to maintain financial sustainability," Anurag Jain, chairman and CEO of Access Healthcare, said in the announcement. "New Mountain has a strong track record of partnering with founder-led businesses, and I am confident that, together, we can accelerate our efforts to support clients to overcome these obstacles. By delivering innovative, technology-driven solutions to clients, our platform not only improves their financial performance but also enhances the overall patient experience."
Access Healthcare is a privately held company founded in 2011 with dual headquarters in Texas and India. According to its website, it processes more than 400 million transactions comprising $120 billion in claims each year. It supports more than half a million physicians across over 150 healthcare institutions including dozens of hospitals and health systems.
New Mountain Capital manages more than $55 billion in assets and has been eyeing the healthcare payments space.
The firm sought to buy out revenue cycle management vendor R1 RCM for $5.8 billion last year, though its offer was beat out when other investors took the company private in an $8.9 billion deal.
New Mountain Capital then merged the Rawlings Group, Apixio’s Payment Integrity business and Varis into a single healthcare payment integrity company later in 2024, but just last week unveiled new plans to acquire healthcare payments AI platform Machinify.
That deal—which is expected to close this quarter, pending regulatory approvals—would pave the way for New Mountain Capital to merge Machinify with the Rawlings Group, Apixio’s Payment Integrity business and Varis, creating a new entity valued at $5 billion with revenues of more than $500 million.
David Pierre, who will lead the new entity, told Fierce Healthcare last week that Machinify merger would “make us the most tech-advanced payment integrity company in the industry and will allow us to identify errors more quickly and accurately, eliminating waste and ultimately reducing the cost of healthcare.”
New Mountain Capital close to acquiring RCM group Access Healthcare: media report
Jan. 13, 5:30 p.m.
Private equity firm New Mountain Capital is reportedly close to closing a deal to acquire Access Healthcare, a revenue cycle management group.
The pending deal, outlined Monday in a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources, would value Access Healthcare at roughly $2 billion. A deal could be announced within the coming weeks but could still be delayed or fall apart, per the report’s sources.
Access Healthcare is a privately held company founded in 2011 by veterans of revenue cycle services company Vision Healthsource.
It processes more than 400 million transactions comprising $120 billion in claims each year, according to its website, supporting more than half a million physicians across over 150 healthcare institutions including dozens of hospitals and health systems. It employs more than 27,000 people.
New Mountain Capital manages more than $55 billion in assets and has taken a clear interest in healthcare payments during recent years.
Last year’s $5.8 billion buyout offer of revenue cycle management vendor R1 RCM was shot down (and later supplanted by a $8.9 billion take-private from other investment funds tied to TowerBrook Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice).
However, the firm went on to merge three health tech companies—the Rawlings Group, Apixio’s Payment Integrity business and Varis—into a single multibillion-dollar entity that would address healthcare payment integrity.
Then, just last week, New Mountain Capital unveiled plans to acquire Machinify, a software platform streamlining healthcare payments with artificial intelligence. That deal—which is expected to close this quarter, pending regulatory approvals—would pave the way for New Mountain Capital to merge Machinify with the Rawlings Group, Apixio’s Payment Integrity business and Varis, creating a new entity valued at $5 billion with revenues of more than $500 million.
The combined company, which will take on the Machinify name, will have more than 2,000 employees serving more than 60 health plans, including 13 of the top 20 payers, according to the company. David Pierre, who was set to head last year’s three-way merger, would lead the new company with Machinify founder and CEO Prasanna Ganesan becoming executive vice president and chief product officer.
Speaking last week with Fierce Healthcare, Pierre said the Machinify merger would “make us the most tech-advanced payment integrity company in the industry and will allow us to identify errors more quickly and accurately, eliminating waste and ultimately reducing the cost of healthcare.”
Closing the rumored Access Healthcare deal would further expand New Mountain Capital’s substantial presence in the revenue cycle market. It could also bring the portfolio companies’ technology capabilities to more healthcare clients.
New Mountain Capital and Access Healthcare have not commented on the reported in-progress deal.