Cognizant to acquire Bolder Healthcare

Cognizant today said it will acquire US-based Bolder Healthcare Solutions for an undisclosed amount, a move that will help the IT firm further strengthen its play in the healthcare space.
Louisville, Kentucky-based Bolder is a privately-held provider of revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions to hospitals, physician practices and other specialist healthcare organisations in the US.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018, subject to satisfaction of the closing conditions, including regulatory reviews, Cognizant said in a statement.
RCM software and processes integrate and automate healthcare administrative and medical data to ensure benefit eligibility and accurate billing and collections. This helps reduce the time between delivery of service to payment received.

"Their (Bolder) RCM offerings will further expand Cognizant's leading healthcare consulting, IT and business process services into more hospitals, hospital outpatient departments, physician practices, and other specialty care providers," the statement said.
The acquisition will also enable Cognizant to expand its range of digital solutions across the healthcare value chain and address the large provider segment of the US healthcare market.

As the healthcare industry continues to undergo significant transformation to a value-based care model, digital RCM services and solutions remove complexity and allow providers to streamline their operations, Cognizant Executive Vice President and Global Head of Healthcare Kaushik Bhaumik said.

"When combined with Cognizant's broad set of offerings for payers and providers, Bolder Healthcare Solutions' capabilities and experts will open new market opportunities as we enable more payers and providers to embrace outcome-based models and innovate with data analytics, cognitive computing and robotic process automation for more efficient management of their businesses and ultimately better patient outcomes," he added.
Cognizant's revenues from its healthcare business grew about 12 per cent year-on-year and stood at USD 1.12 billion (29.4 per cent of the quarter's revenues) for the October-December 2017 period.
It had acquired TriZetto Corporation in 2014 to boost its revenues from the healthcare space. Last year, it acquired TMG Health among a slew of acquisitions.