Looking to the emergency medicine space, this morning interoperable health IT company Medsphere Systems Corporation announced that it is set to acquire Wellsoft, a company that specializes in ED information systems. 

As part of the deal Medsphere will be acquiring Wellsoft’s signature product, the Emergency Department Information Systems (EDIS), which is targeted at improving workflow in EDs and urgent care centers. 

Wellsoft has been around since 1988, and its capabilities now include patient tracking, clinical documentation, orders and results, reimbursement, clinical decision support, discharge plans and data management, according to a statement. 

Also announced today was that Wellsoft’s founder and CEO, Dr. John Santmann, will be joining Medsphere as CMIO. 

Why it matters 

Medsphere said that this recent development will let it create a comprehensive platform for urgent care centers that will employ the technology from Wellsoft and Medsphere’s RCM Cloud revenue cycle suite. 

“With this merger, we have the opportunity to expand as an integral component of a larger, integrated enterprise solution for healthcare providers,” Santmann said in a statement. “In our early conversations with Medsphere, we also recognized shared goals and values — specifically, a commitment to empowering healthcare organizations without asking them to sacrifice other clinical initiatives by overpaying for healthcare IT. We’re truly excited to join Medsphere.”

What's the trend 

This isn’t Medsphere Systems’ first move in M&As. Back in 2015 the company merged with Richardson, Texas-based Phoenix Health Systems. During that merger the former kept its name and operated as a division of Medsphere. 

More recently, in 2017, the company merged with Stockell Healthcare Systems, a revenue cycle management in the cloud, under the Medsphere name. 

On the record 

“You only have to look at the awards and recognition Wellsoft has received to recognize what a significant addition to the CareVue EHR platform this is,” Medsphere President and CEO Irv Lichtenwald said in a statement. “We’re very excited about the tremendous clinical value of Wellsoft and CareVue together and we look forward to working with Dr. John Santmann and his team on our shared ethic of making affordable, comprehensive healthcare IT available to all providers.”