In a move aimed at enhancing its services for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and community health centers (CHCs), and expanding its offerings to rural health initiatives, EHR developer Greenway Medical Technologies will acquire certain assets of Southlake, Texas-based CySolutions.


Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close by Oct. 31, 2011.

"Greenway's acquisition of CySolutions represents another step in executing the plans we have for advancing healthcare delivery in underserved regions," said Tee Green, president and CEO of Greenway. "The existing solutions for FQHCs and community health are varied and somewhat disconnected. The combined expertise and passion of the Greenway and CySolutions teams will deliver a comprehensive and best practice standard to these settings, and will aid in the establishment of a true national health information network."

[See also: Vendor Notebook: Greenway launches mobile EHR app for the iPad.]

According to the National Association of Community Health Centers, there are more than 7,900 FQHC and CHC facilities in the United States, serving 20 million patients. This number is expected to increase to 35 million by end of 2013, and double over the next 10 years. Incentives to continue to provide quality healthcare to these patients were included within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Providers and patients affiliated with rural critical access hospitals (CAH) will also gain further aid from an August announcement by the White House Rural Economic Forum establishing health information technology CAH grants. And on Sept. 9th, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will make an additional $11 million available to promote health information technology networks and electronic health record adoption in a variety of rural healthcare settings.

[See also: Greenway acquires imaging technology.]

Based on the public funding requirements for much of FQHC and CHC care, innovative health IT solutions for such functions as data exchange, quality reporting, billing and analytics are required, say Greenway officials, and CySolutions' expertise – integrated within Greenway's EHR, practice management and interoperability solution PrimeSUITE 2011 – will enhance these functions to advance internal and external reporting, workflow automation, integration of clinical, financial and administrative data and provide design for accountable care organizations (ACOs) and other care coordination reimbursement programs put forth by payers and health plans.

"Greenway has achieved its growth and leadership in the healthcare industry through a constant pursuit of the most advanced innovation and service possible, and this investment will lead to further gains in this space," said Bill Young, CySolutions CEO, who will join Greenway to continue the development of FQHC and rural health solutions.