Providence St. Joseph Buys Blockchain-Based RCM Platform
Just a week after creating a for-profit population health management company, Providence St. Joseph Health continued its push into the health IT market with the acquisition of Lumedic, a revenue cycle management platform based on blockchain technology.
When the $23 billion nonprofit health system unveiled Ayin Health Solutions last week, it said the new company would equip payers, providers, employers and government entities with the expertise and services they need to reduce costs, improve care and keep pace with the healthcare industry’s transition to population health. Its suite of capabilities includes a pharmacy benefits management service that partners pharmacists and physicians throughout the care continuum; a proprietary risk evaluation tool and comprehensive reporting to help manage healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes; and an employee health benefits service that tailors benefits programs to an organization’s needs.
At this week’s HIMSS19 conference in Orlando, Providence St. Joseph Health said it would be the first integrated heath system to establish a scalable blockchain platform to transform claims processing and enhance interoperability between providers and payers.
Seattle-based Lumedic builds on distributed ledger technology, smart contracts, and machine learning to deploy an end-to-end platform for revenue cycle management. The goal is for payers and providers to seamlessly share trusted information and collaborate on integrated business processes. The health system has acquired Lumedic's assets and team to form a new company that will maintain the Lumedic brand and operating vision.
"New technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning give us an opportunity to view the complexities of today's health systems through a different lens," said Venkat Bhamidipati, PSJH’s chief financial officer, in a prepared statement. "Our acquisition of Lumedic's innovative platform is yet another example of how we are pursuing all avenues of transformation, allowing us to redirect unnecessary spend towards either patient savings or care."
Besides its 51 hospitals, Renton, Wash.-based Providence St. Joseph Health has 829 physician clinics, senior services, supportive housing and many other health and educational services. The health system and its partners employ more than 119,000 people across seven states — Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Formed in 2016, the Providence St. Joseph Health family includes the founding organizations, and in Texas, Covenant Health and Covenant Medical Group; California, Facey Medical Group, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare; Washington, Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Pacific Medical Centers, and Swedish Health Services.
