Strong Growth of HEALTHCAREfirst Leads to Investment by Riverside
Posted by Claire Powell on Tue, Sep 02, 2008 @ 01:45 PM
HEALTHCAREfirst, a homecare software solutions veteran that has paved the way for web-based software and services in the home health and hospice industry, looks to further expand its lead by selecting The Riverside Company as its growth partner.
The Riverside Company is a global private equity firm that specializes in buying profitable, well-managed small and medium sized businesses that are market leaders in their niche. In partnership with management, Riverside seeks to grow its portfolio companies through increased capital expenditures, product expansion, and strategic add-on acquisitions.
Founded in 1992, HCF has grown from offering one software solution for its customers into a company that offers an entire suite of complementary products and services, all directly accessible online on a 24 hour/seven day a week basis. The range of products and services are designed to allow home health agencies and hospices to manage the clinical and operational aspects of their businesses. The core products increase productivity and improve cash flow by:
• maximizing reimbursements,
• eliminating paperwork,
• providing enhanced electronic tools to manage patients, personnel and payers,
• simplifying the billing and coding process, and
• eliminating errors.
"The Riverside team quickly recognized the growth potential at HEALTHCAREfirst," said Loren Schlachet, Riverside Managing Partner. "In addition to the significant industry growth trend, we see great potential in marketing the complementary product extensions for the software. Riverside's extensive experience in healthcare will assist the HEALTHCAREfirst management team to expand its product offerings and broaden its customer base. We also plan to find complementary add-on opportunities that improve HEALTHCAREfirst's ability to serve customers."
"I have personally invested in this growth along with The Riverside Company and will continue in my present position in order to be a part of this exciting time for HEALTHCAREfirst and our customers. Riverside will help us increase efficiencies in much the same way that we help our customers," said HEALTHCAREfirst CEO Bobby Robertson. "We have differentiated ourselves by offering an integrated bundle of products and services, giving our customers the freedom to focus on patient care instead of paperwork. Similarly, Riverside offers us a broad range of business and industry expertise that will enable us to operate efficiently and focus on delivering even stronger competitive advantages for our customers."
HEALTHCAREfirst, Inc. (www.healthcarefirst.com)
HEALTHCAREfirst has been providing software and services exclusively to the home care and hospice industries since 1992. The company is dedicated to providing cutting edge technologies that improve business functions to home care and hospice agencies across the United States. HEALTHCAREfirst was one of the first home care software vendors to recognize the industry's need for high quality software applications that are accessible over the worldwide web.
The Riverside Company (www.riversidecompany.com or www.riversideeurope.com)
The Riverside Company is the largest global private equity firm focused on the smaller end of the middle market ("SEMM") and is one of the industry's most experienced leveraged buyout investors. Riverside specializes in investing in premier SEMM companies (those valued up to $200 million) and partners with strong management teams to build companies through acquisitions and value-added growth. Since 1988, the firm has invested in 197 transactions with a total enterprise value of $4.4 billion. Its current portfolio is the U.S., Europe and Asia numbers 66 with combined annual sales of $3.2 billion, EBITDA of $517 million and more than 14,000 employees. Riverside offers the resources to complete acquisitions smoothly and in as little as 45 days - thanks to its sizeable pool of capital under management (more than $2 billion in nine funds), over 180 professionals in 17 offices (Amsterdam, Atlanta, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New York, Prague, San Francisco, Seoul, Stockholm, Tokyo and Warsaw), and long-standing relationships with partner lenders. Six of nine of the firm's mature vintages are currently top quartile, and the firm's investors include the world's leading pension funds, endowments, funds-of-funds, insurance companies and banks.