Healthcare consulting and services firm Cumberland Consulting Group has acquired LinkEHR, an Electronic Health Records (EHR) managed services firm.
Madison, Wisconsin-based LinkEHR’s main expertise is in supporting the EPIC system for healthcare. Epic is a privately held healthcare software company. Hospitals that use its software hold the medical records of more than half of patients in the United States and 2.5 percent of patients worldwide.
LinkEHR provides remote application support, including Epic Help Desk, application break-fix, and maintenance support for the full suite of Epic applications.
The firm also provides physician concierge support, as well as optimization services and outsourced build services.
The transaction bolsters Cumberland’s managed services capabilities for providers. Cumberland says it will also be able to provide more EHR application support thanks to a newly dedicated call center with increased Epic knowledge and expertise. The firm already offers support for Cerner applications and says it has plans to further extend its core EHR application support services to include other leading applications.
LinkEHR will continue to operate out of its Madison office, which will also serve as the base for Cumberland’s newly formed Provider Managed Services Practices, the company said. Jill Nemoir, COO of LinkEHR, will join Cumberland as Managing Director of Managed Services, where she will oversee the firm’s EHR application support. Around 50 LinkEHR employees will be joining the Cumberland team as a result of the transaction, bringing Cumberland’s total headcount to more than 500.
Cumberland, which was founded in 2004, has made multiple healthcare-related acquisitions. This latest deal is the company’s fourth M&A deal in just under five years. The firm acquired Oleen Pinnacle Consulting Group two years ago in an effort to expand its presence in the payer market. In 2014, Cumberland purchased Cipe Consulting Group, a Seattle-based healthcare technology consulting firm specializing in electronic health records and revenue cycle system implementation and support. The year before that, it acquired Mindlance Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical consulting group.
Cumberland is a portfolio company of Tailwind Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in growth-oriented middle market healthcare and business services companies.
Industry Overview
The healthcare industry continues to be a target for acquisitions. The industry as a whole is increasingly dependent on IT outsourcing, making it an attractive vertical for MSPs -- though navigating regulations and customer needs can be very tricky. According to one study, a record 82 percent of hospitals signed IT departmental outsourcing contracts since Q3 2016 or are in the process of a vendor selection.
In October of 2017, France’s Atos acquired three US-based healthcare IT consulting firms. Alvarez & Marsal Capital, a private equity firm, recently bought a majority stake in CNSI, which specializes in healthcare IT management technology. And Kayne Partners recently funded CareWorx -- an MSP focused on senior healthcare facilities -- to the tune of $17 million.
