Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
PointClickCare is set to buy Audacious Inquiry in a deal valued north of $400 million, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Audacious Inquiry reflects the rise of so-called data-driven software-as-a-service or data-as-a-service models that are taking shape in health care, and ultimately playing a crucial role as enablers of value-based care.
- Other companies of this vein are Collective Medical, which PointClickCare acquired for $650 million just over a year ago, and PatientPing, which Clearlake Capital- and Insight Partners-backed Appriss bought last March in an approximately $500 million deal.
- PointClickCare and Audacious Inquiry declined to comment on the terms of the deal.
How it works: Audacious Inquiry's software provides real-time notifications between different constituents whenever a shared patient interacts with the health care system. The software works with health systems and risk-bearing providers, health plans and public health agencies.
- “By connecting all those points of care,” PointClickCare president Julieann Esper Rainville tells Axios, “it enables disperse care teams to have real-time visibility into where that patient is showing up, so they can proactively intervene and make good care decisions at critical moments.”
- That, ideally, results in better care at lower costs, which might be reflected by lower emergency department utilization, reduced readmissions, or prevention of unnecessary procedures and tests.
Zoom in: With this deal, PointClickCare advances its mission to enhance care coordination for older and vulnerable populations by unlocking valuable data.
- With Audacious Inquiry, PointClickCare also gains PULSE, a tool that enables timely access to clinical and medication histories when there is a disaster situation, like a hurricane or a fire.
- By pulling together Collective Medical of Salt Lake City and Audacious Inquiry of Baltimore, PointClickCare also gains complementary geographic networks.
- If you’re a national insurance company, “being able to track [people] across states is really important,” Rainville explains.
What's next: PointClickCare despite its scale and growth has no plans to go public anytime soon.
- “We are very, very happy being private,” Rainville says, adding that more M&A could be on the horizon.
- PointClickCare overall is growing ARR at a 20% to 25% rate annually, while its smaller acute payor business is looking at 40% to 50% ARR growth, Rainville says. Excluding Audacious Inquiry, ARR sits at around $500 million today.
Catch up quick: Hellman & Friedman and Dragoneer Investment Group invested in PointClickCare about a year ago at a reported valuation of $4 billion.
- Audacious Inquiry’s previous investors include TT Capital Partners, Frist, Cressey Ventures and ABS Capital Partners.
- Deutsche Bank is advising Audacious Inquiry, while JPMorgan is leading debt financing on the acquisition, and Goodwin Procter and PwC are working with PointClickCare, Rainville says.