Close on the heels of acquiring data analytics company CECity for $400 million this past week, Premier is growing again -- announcing on Wednesday that it would buy Healthcare Insights for $65 million in cash.

Healthcare Insights is a privately held, integrated financial management software developer that provides hospitals and healthcare systems with budgeting, forecasting, labor productivity and cost analytic capabilities.
 
"As the healthcare industry becomes more complex, value-driven, and data-dependent, the need for health systems to clearly understand their performance in every arena is a top concern," said Keith J. Figlioli, Premier's senior vice president of health informatics, in a news release announcing the deal. "It is not enough to have financial, operational and clinical data. Health systems must understand how to translate that information into effective cost containment strategies, as well as superior clinical outcomes."

[See also: Premier buys performance analytics specialist for $400 million.]
 
The industry's increased focus on cost is largely driven by the Affordable Care Act, which reduces overall reimbursement, and increasingly holds providers accountable for the total costs and quality of the care delivered. Coupled with the growing movement to value-based payments such as bundling or shared savings, healthcare providers need solutions that can help them understand cost drivers and opportunities for improvement in detail, he explained

Healthcare Insights is expected to enable Premier to offer a more complete solution that delivers additional value by adding budgeting, clinical financial management and productivity analytics to existing cost and quality applications, including the company's enterprise resource planning solution, Figlioli said.
 
"This strategic combination will allow us to offer a more complete ERP solution with an end-to-end view of cost management," said Thomas Johnston, Healthcare Insights' chief executive officer. "We expect this to increase our hospitals' and health systems' understanding of their clinical, operational and financial performance, and help them deliver more efficient, higher quality care."

[See also: Premier brings pop health to the cloud.]
 
Founded in 2000, Healthcare Insights' current customer base includes more than 7,500 users across 200 facilities associated with 94 health systems, 49 of which do not currently have a relationship with Premier. KLAS, a leading research firm that provides ratings for more than 900 healthcare products and services, has ranked Healthcare Insights first place in budgeting for the past four years.
 
The Healthcare Insights acquisition, which was effective July 31, is currently projected to be modestly accretive to Premier's fiscal 2016 revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA. Expected revenue and adjusted EBITDA contributions from the acquisition will be incorporated into Premier's fiscal year 2016 guidance, which is scheduled to be announced on August 24, when the company reports fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 financial results.