Huron finalizes acquisition of predictive healthcare analytics company Perception Health

Predictive Health's solutions include a physician scoring algorithm and a disease prediction model

2021 was a big year for healthcare M&A: companies like Microsoft, Humana, Optum, Intermountain, Oracle, and One Medical spent billions in acquisitions, making it the second largest M&A year ever through just the first three quarters of the year.

In fact, with 79 deals, Q3 2021 was the largest quarter for healthcare M&A ever, and August, which saw 33 deals, was the biggest digital health M&A month on record. And Q4 was no exception, with Oracle acquiring Cerner, a supplier of health information technology services, devices, and hardware, for $28.3 billion, the biggest deal of the year yet.

Late in December, Huron revealed that it has entered a deal to acquire predictive healthcare analytics company  Perception Health, and now, less than two weeks later, the acquisition is already finalized the company announced on Monday. 

Founded in 2014, Perception Health generates data insights and intelligence for providers, payors and research institutions, with the goal of analyzing network integrity, identifying early disease risk factors, and optimizing patient care. Its solutions include a market position intelligence solution called TEAM, a physician scoring algorithm called VOCAL, a disease prediction model called CARE, and a medical coding crosswalk called CODE.

Huron is a publicly traded professional services firm with expertise in sectors that include energy & utilities, financial services, healthcare, industrials & manufacturing, life sciences, and the public sector.

The company says the acquisition of Perception Health will help strengthen its healthcare predictive analytics and data capabilities going forward.

“The healthcare industry is under immense pressure to deliver high-quality, individualized care,” James H. Roth, chief executive officer of Huron, said in a statement. “This acquisition allows Huron to offer providers, payors and research institutions data insights across the care continuum to make better decisions and proactively impact patient care and clinical outcomes.”

While no financial terms of the deal were revealed, the company did say that all employees of Perception Health will be joining Huron; that includes Gregg Loughman, the company's chief executive officer, and Tod Fetherling, its co-founder and chief data scientist.

“We are thrilled to join a values-led and people-focused organization that shares our vision for transforming healthcare,” Loughman said in a statement

“Huron and Perception Health are strategically aligned and committed to helping our clients harness the power of curated data and analytics to make smarter decisions that profoundly impact patient outcomes, experience and cost of care.”

Prior to its acquisition, Perception Health had raised $3 million in venture funding.

(Image source: perceptionhealth.com)