Allscripts to buy Eclipsys in $1.3B, all-stock deal

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions is about to drop the "Misys" part, as the Chicago-based company has agreed to a $1.3 billion all-stock takeover of Eclipsys. As part of the deal, Misys plc will reduce its 55 percent stake in Allscripts to just 10 percent as the British firm, formerly a major player in health IT, concentrates on banking software.

The combination of Allscripts and Eclipsys will have a client base of more than 180,000 physicians, 1,500 hospitals and almost 10,000 nursing homes, hospices and home-care facilities, and fills in market gaps for both companies. Allscripts to date has been a vendor of ambulatory systems, while Eclipsys has focused on inpatient EMRs.

Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman will be CEO of the combined company, while Eclipsys chief Phil Pead will serve as chairman, the two firms say. All current executives of both companies will remain, according to an Allscripts statement.

"We are at the beginning of what we believe will be the single fastest transformation of any industry in U.S. history, and the combination of the Allscripts electronic health record portfolio in the physician office and leadership in the post-acute care market, with Eclipsys's market-leading hospital enterprise solution creates the one company uniquely positioned to execute on this significant opportunity," Tullman says in a press release. "The merger of Allscripts and Eclipsys creates one company with the scale, breadth of applications and client footprint to bring that vision to life by connecting providers in hospitals, physician practices and post-acute organizations across the country."

Despite company pronouncements, the new Allscripts won't be able to offer a true, single integrated platform for a while, Michael Mytych, principal of Health Information Consulting, Menomonee Falls, Wis., tells Health Data Management.

And HDM reports that one San Diego law firm may try to block the deal on behalf of Eclipsys shareholders who believe the sale price is too low. So far, there's no word on whether a class-action suit will go forward.

For more information:
- read this Reuters story
- see this Health Data Management analysis
- have a look at this press release

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