McKesson to Acquire Per-Se for $1.8B

McKesson has announced that it will acquire Per-Se Technologies for $1.8 billion.

McKesson is among the largest health care services companies, and provides supply management and IT for health care providers and insurers.

The acquisition of Per-Se is intended to enhance the administrative IT solutions offered by McKesson. It will also expand McKessons client base by adding the nations largest electronic pharmacy network that connects about 90 percent of U.S. retail pharmacies to their business partners for the management of clinical, financial and administrative transactions between the pharmacist and payer.

In addition, Per-Ses current customer base includes approximately 100,000 physicians in small practices, 17,000 hospital-affiliated physicians, 3,000 hospitals and 50,000 retail pharmacies.

“An increasingly complex reimbursement environment, a rapidly emerging market for physician office software, and the continued need for products and services to help our retail pharmacy customers compete more effectively and profitably, all create opportunities for McKesson to accelerate future growth,” said John Hammergren, chairman and CEO of McKesson.

“Per-Ses highly regarded products and services strengthen our position in each of these key areas, while also providing valuable scale,” Hammergren said.

With the acquisition of Per-Se, McKesson estimates that the number of transaction-processing services for physicians and hospitals will more than double, to approximately 560 million transactions annually, representing an estimated $300 billion in billed charges.

McKesson will acquire all outstanding shares of Per-Se for $28 per share in cash, bringing the transaction total to about $1.8 billion. If approved by regulatory agencies, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007.

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