McKesson on Monday announced that it will acquire Waltham, Mass.-based MedVentive, which develops risk management and population health technology.

With the acquisition, terms of which were not discolsed, McKesson officials say MedVentive’s tools will help its clients become more clinically integrated, engage physicians and patients to reduce costs, and transition to risk-bearing models such as accountable care – areas that are core to McKesson's Better Health 2020 initiative.

MedVentive – which serves health systems, multi-specialty clinics and payers nationwide – was founded in 2005 by Jonathan Niloff, MD, formerly an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School.

McKesson officials say the firm’s SaaS solutions, MedVentive Risk Manager and MedVentive Population Manager, will complement the McKesson Enterprise Intelligence suite to help healthcare organizations understand and manage the quality, cost and efficiency of providing patient care across settings, conditions and/or other providers.

“More healthcare providers are beginning to assume risk as we move to value-based reimbursement,” said Pat Blake, executive vice president and group president of McKesson Technology Solutions. “Whether it’s for their employee population, a Medicare shared savings plan, or a defined disease state group, providers must understand the risk they are assuming. What providers really need – and McKesson’s solutions will help offer – is a true picture of the total cost of delivered care based on clinical documentation and claims data across all care settings,” Blake adds.

The McKesson and MedVentive solutions also are designed to enable providers to proactively manage the clinical health of at-risk patient populations by identifying gaps in patient care and delivering actionable information to the physician and care team, officials say.

“Managing risk and outcomes for patient populations will remain a key focus for providers and payers alike,” said Niloff. “Together MedVentive and McKesson will offer the expertise and tools to help improve the quality of care, create financial transparency, and support care collaboration across the continuum.”

The McKesson Technology Solutions’ Better Health 2020 strategy maintains that, to deliver healthcare in 2020 and beyond, organizations will need to optimize clinical, financial and operational performance; coordinate care across settings and stakeholders; navigate new payment models; and manage technology assets to provide a solid foundation for growth beyond the four walls of the health system. Officials say the MedVentive acquisition will help further those aims.

“Our goal with Better Health 2020 is to guide customers through their current crossroads – meaningful use, ICD-10 and others – and equip them for success as they deal with cost reduction, begin to coordinate care, collaborate with payers and manage complex payment models," says Blake.