TriZetto subsidiary Gateway EDI announced Tuesday its acquisition of Sacramento, Calif.-based NHXS, which develops software meant to help medical practices manage physician reimbursement and recover lost revenues.

The merger will see NHXS' technologies integrated into Gateway EDI’s product suite, which includes electronic data interchange (EDI) and revenue cycle management services for more than 100,000 physicians, officials say.

NHXS has a client base of some 20,000 providers. As part of the deal, terms of which were not disclosed, the company's current leadership team will continue to run its day-to-day operations.

“NHXS’s solution suite augments our current solutions for medical offices,” said Trace Devanny, chairman and CEO of TriZetto. “Its offerings help group practices obtain accurate claim payments, recover underpayments and free up more time to provide medical care for patients."

[See also: TriZetto acquires Medical Data Express.]

TriZetto develops IT tools aimed at helping providers and payers work more efficiently and collaborate to deliver better health. Devanny noted that NHXS products will benefit payers "by reducing the number of appeals and administrative expenses associated with claim corrections and reprocessing."

The NHXS acquisition, he added, "is one more step by TriZetto toward an integrated, real-time provider-payer technology platform that helps physicians and health plans achieve higher levels of efficiency and productivity, and lays the foundation for improved clinical communications.”
 
“In the short term, TriZetto’s and Gateway EDI’s solutions will enhance our offerings and our ability to serve the needs of today’s medical offices,” said Mark Reiger, CEO of NHXS. “Long-term, as part of TriZetto, we have an opportunity to play a larger role – to help the healthcare industry move beyond the acrimony that too often has characterized provider-payer relations and improve both the cost and quality of care delivery in our country.”

[See also: TriZetto acquires Kocsis Consulting Group.]
 
NHXS has worked with Gateway EDI since 2009, when the organizations jointly developed the Reimbursement Manager tool, which makes it easier for providers to identify payment inaccuracies. The tool finds such errors and automates the appeal/reconsideration process.
 
“On average, 4 to 10 percent of claims are incorrectly paid," said Charlotte Martin, president and COO of Gateway EDI. "Working in partnership with NHXS, we’ve helped providers identify inaccurate payments and reduce the time and effort required to get the payments corrected. We look forward to the new offerings our joint teams will be able to bring our clients.”