McKesson has announced its acquisition of Portico Systems, which specializes in IT for health plans, for a reported $90 million in cash.

Officials say deal will allow McKesson to bring together a unique set of financial management competencies for payers and accountable care organizations that include the claims auditing and decision management tools from McKesson Health Solutions, as well as the connectivity technology from RelayHealth.

"The ability to create new products that use value-based reimbursement to align payers and providers on achieving the right outcomes is a key strategic imperative," said Emad Rizk, MD, president of McKesson Health Solutions. "Portico will further enhance McKesson's ability to help organizations efficiently navigate and manage increasingly complex delivery systems."

With payment and delivery reform changing the way payers and providers share risk – placing new importance on the ability to efficiently and strategically manage provider networks – McKesson supports clients in point-of-care decision making, care management, medical and payment policy automation, claims auditing and fraud, waste and abuse programs.

The acquisition of Portico will add integrated provider management and value-based reimbursement solutions to that McKesson portfolio, officials say, helping automate network management, provider enrollment, credentialing, contracting and pricing. With Portico, McKesson will be able to bring to market a full continuum of automated decision support, including the important ability to help payers and accountable care organizations manage their networks efficiently, reduce their administrative costs and facilitate the movement to new, complex reimbursement models.

Founded in 1997, the privately held Portico has offices in Blue Bell, Pa., and Beaverton, Ore. Its technologies give approximately 33 payer and provider networks – representing approximately 42 million covered lives – the ability to design networks, contract for care in a value-based way and manage network performance.

"We believe that the combined organization will benefit all of our customers," said Ned Moore, Portico's CEO. "I am excited about what Portico and McKesson can bring to the market to help healthcare organizations address the challenges of managing risk in the new era of health reform."