INSIDE THE CURRENT ISSUE

November 2007

30th Anniversary

Peering off the ledger:
Big deals move market share roller coaster 

When new companies emerge or disappear, or two organizations marry or divorce it can be big news. When these deals occur at a higher frequency in a limited amount of time it can be really big news.

Such is the case with the ebb and flow and the ups and downs of corporate matchmaking and breaking in the healthcare industry, which in Healthcare Purchasing News’ three decades of publishing, peaked in the mid-to-late 1990s but remains brisk.

As part of HPN’s ongoing 30^th Anniversary celebration, we surveyed readers and researched our own content to identify the most intriguing business deals involving mergers, acquisitions and divestitures that either happened or were proposed but failed to materialize.

What follows are highlights of what our readers and our pages reported over the years as major business tentpoles over the decades. For a more detailed list, visit HPN Online. 

Most Intriguing Business Deals 
 

1970s

1. The International Material Management Society forms the Health Care Material Management Section, which becomes the Health Care Material Management Society five years later – 1977

2. Eight Western hospital systems plan to form Associated Hospital Systems – 1977

3. Humana Inc. merges with American Medicorp Inc. – 1978

4. VHA signs prime vendor agreement with American Hospital Supply Co. – 1979

5. Twenty-one Southeast hospitals launch SunHealth Alliance – 1979

6. Four distributors – White and White, Bluefield Supply Co., CrockerFels and Ransdell Surgical – file a lawsuit against American Hospital Supply Co. for alleged restraint of trade and unfair price competition via its VHA prime vendor agreement – 1979

1980s 

1.      Several Eastern purchasing groups and shared services organizations form the Mid-Atlantic Group Network of Shared Services (MAGNET) – 1981

2.      The leaders of 13 city hospital purchasing groups form the Metropolitan Associations Purchasing Service (MAPS), which folds three years later – 1982

3.      Hospital Corporation of America acquires Hospital Affiliates International

4.      Eight regional purchasing groups terminate their management contracts with the Hospital Bureau Inc., but remain affiliates.

5.      Mid-America Shared Services Inc. and Commodities Purchasing Associates of Colorado form Health Services Corporation of America – 1984

6.      American Hospital Supply Co. tries to merge with HCA – 1985

7.      Five major groups of Catholic healthcare providers form CROSS, a group purchasing program for members – 1985

8.      VHA creates its national distribution network VHA Supply Co. – 1985

9.      American Hospital Supply Corp. merges with Baxter Travenol Laboratories to form Baxter Healthcare Corp.

10.  Haricomp, Health Services Corporation of America, Hospital Shared Services of Western Pennsylvania and Intermountain Health Care form AmeriNet Inc.

1990s 

1.      HSCA withdraws from AmeriNet – 1990

2.      Baxter Healthcare Corp. bids for Stuart Medical Inc. but pulls out of the deal three months later – 1992

3.      The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs agree to adopt private sector distribution methods by inking deals with regional prime vendors – 1993

4.      Baptist Memorial Healthcare System, Memphis, TN, replaces Stuart Medical Inc. as its medical/surgical supply distributor with food service distributor Sysco Corp. – 1993

5.      Three St. Louis-based hospital systems create BJC Health System – 1993

6.      Johnson & Johnson Medical Inc. launches Advanced Sterilization Products – 1993

7.      Owens & Minor Inc. buys Stuart Medical Inc. – 1994

8.      General Medical Corp. buys F.D. Titus & Son Inc. and Foster Medical Supply Inc. – 1994

9.      Galen Health Care (formerly Humana Inc.’s hospital division) merges with Columbia Hospital Corp. to form Columbia Healthcare Corp., which merges with HCA and Medical Care America Inc. to form Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., which then acquires HealthTrust Inc. – 1993, 1994, 1995

10.  Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. signs a comprehensive sole-source agreement for capital equipment with GE Medical Systems – 1995

11.  National Medical Enterprises merges with American Medical International to form Tenet Healthcare Corp. – 1994

12.  IMS America decides not to renew its contract with the Health Industry Business Communications Council to develop the Common Category Database – comprising the Universal Product Number (UPN) that IMS supported, a standardized classification system and a central repository that allows for cross-referencing products – leading to the project’s demise as UPN continued on – 1995

13.  Fisher Scientific International buys Curtin-Matheson Scientific – 1995

14.  ASHMM, AHA shows part ways, ending a 32-year tradition that brought hospital CEOs and materials managers together – 1995

15.  American Healthcare Systems, Premier Health Alliance and SunHealth Alliance form Premier Inc. – 1995

16.  VHA Inc. and University HealthSystem Consortium create Novation – 1996

17.  Getinge merges with MDT Castle to form Getinge/Castle Inc. – 1996

18.  STERIS Corp. buys AMSCO International – 1996

19.  Regent Hospital Products and Aladan Corp. become Regent Medical – 1996

20.  Graphic Controls acquires Devon Industries Inc. – 1996

21.  Cardinal Health Inc. acquires PYXIS Corp. – 1996

22.  B. Braun acquires McGaw from IVAX – 1997

23.  Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. held discussions with Tenet Healthcare Corp. about a potential merger, in which Tenet would emerge the surviving organization – 1997

24.  Getinge/Castle Inc. forges a marketing alliance with Johnson & Johnson’s Advanced Sterilization Products unit – 1997

25.  HBO & Co. acquires Enterprise Systems Inc. – 1997

26.  The Standard Register Co. buys Uarco Inc. – 1997

27.  Managed Health Care Associates Inc. acquires MedEcon Services Inc. -- 1998

28.  Baxter International spins off Allegiance Healthcare Corp. (the core of Baxter’s merger with American Hospital Supply Co.) – 1996

29.  Allegiance inks a contract with General Medical Corp. where General Medical will market Allegiance-branded products – 1996

30.  IMED Corp. and IVAC Medical merge to form Alaris Medical Systems Inc. – 1996

31.  Cardinal Health Inc. acquires Allegiance

32.  COHR Inc., the parent company of Purchase Connection, debuted as a publicly traded company, and lasted for nearly two years on Wall Street

33.  Tenet Healthcare Corp. creates Broadlane

34.  HCA launches HealthTrust Purchasing Group

35.  Cardinal Health Inc. is blocked from merging with Bergen Brunswig Corp. by the Federal Trade Commission on antitrust grounds – 1998

36.  McKesson Corp. is prevented from merging with AmeriSource Health Corp. – 1998

37.  Catholic Materials Management Alliance teams with Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother-Diversified Health Services to form Consorta Inc. – 1998

38.  Newell Co. buys Rubbermaid Inc.

39.  Medtronic Inc. acquires Physio-Control and Sofamor Danek Group

40.  Johnson & Johnson buys DePuy Inc.

41.  KI acquires Spacesaver Corp.

42.  Stryker Corp. buys Howmedica Inc.

43.  PhyCor Inc. and MedPartners Inc., the market-leading physician practice management companies, dissolved their proposed merger

44.  Kimberly-Clark Corp. buys Ballard Medical Products

45.  AbTox Inc. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, following a Food and Drug Association safety alert

46.  Becton Dickinson & Co. acquires Concepts In Healthcare

47.  Johnson & Johnson Health Care Services acquires McFaul & Lyons Inc.

48.  AmeriNet Inc. acquires Kowalski-Dickow Associates Inc.

49.  AmeriNet sells Kowalski-Dickow to ServiceMaster Management Services

50.  McKesson acquires General Medical Corp. – 1997, and HBO & Co. – 1999

51.  Pilling Weck Surgical acquires KMedic Inc. – 1999

52.  Stericycle acquires Browning-Ferris Industries Inc.’s medical waste operations

53.  Neoforma Inc. debuts – 1996?

54.  Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. spins off Triad Hospitals Inc. and LifePoint Hospitals Inc. – 1999

55.  Kimberly-Clark Corp. buys Safeskin Corp. – 1999

56.  Several Catholic-based organizations unite to form Ascension Health – 1999

57.  HealthSouth Corp. acquires nearly 25 percent of market leader Columbia/HCA’s ambulatory surgery centers to claim the No. 1 title

58.  Tyco International Ltd. scoops up Kendall Healthcare Products, Sherwood-Davis & Geck, United States Surgical Corp., Mallinckrodt, Nellcor Puritan Bennett, Graphic Controls Corp., Sentry Medical Products, Arbo Medical Inc., and INBRAND Corp.

59.  Three third-party reprocessing firms form the nucleus of Alliance Medical Corp.

60.  Physician Sales & Service Inc. acquires Gulf South Medical Supply Inc. to form PSS/World Medical Inc.

2000s

1.      MedAssets acquires HSCA and Insource Health Services (formerly Purchase Connection) – 2000

2.      Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) debuts – 2000

3.      AmeriSource Health Corp. and Bergen Brunswig Corp. form AmerisourceBergen Inc. – 2001

4.      Several of the nation’s largest group purchasing organizations invest in some of the newly emerging Internet-based online exchanges – 1999-2001

5.      The Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management (AHRMM) absorbs the Health Care Resource Management Society (HCRMS) - 2001

6.      Tyco International agrees to acquire C.R. Bard and then stops the deal – 2001

7.      GHX acquires Medibuy.com – 2002

8.      Intuitive Surgical Inc. buys Computer Motion Inc. – 2003

9.      Moore Corporation Ltd. merges with Wallace Computer Services Inc. to form Moore Wallace Inc. – 2003

10.  RR Donnelly acquires Moore Wallace Inc. – 2004

11.  Cardinal Health Inc. buys Alaris Medical Systems Inc. – 2004

12.  GE Healthcare acquires IDX Systems Corp – 2005

13.  Thermo Electron Corp. acquires Fisher Scientific International to create Thermo Fisher Scientific – 2006

14.  C.R. Bard buys Venetec International – 2006

15.  Ascension Health leaves Consorta for Broadlane – 2006

16.  GHX acquires Neoforma Inc. – 2006

17.  Novation moves into Europe – 2006

18.  Hologic Inc. purchases SUROS Surgical Systems Inc. and R2 Technologies – 2006

19.  Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. acquires Bayer HealthCare Diagnostics and Diagnostic Products Corp. – 2006

20.  Alliance Medical Corp. merges with Vanguard Medical Concepts, creating Ascent Healthcare Solutions – 2006

21.  Guidant Corp. agrees to be acquired by Johnson & Johnson, then rejects the deal in favor of being acquired by Boston Scientific Corp. – 2006

22.  Eastman Kodak Co. sells its Health Group to Onex Corp., which renames it Carestream Health – 2007

23.  Consorta Inc. joins HealthTrust Purchasing Group – 2007

24.  McKesson Corp. acquires Per-Se Technologies – 2007

25.  Cardinal Health buys VIASYS Healthcare – 2007

26.  Siemens AG acquires Dade Behring – 2007

27.  Tyco International spins off its Tyco Healthcare Group as Covidien – 2007

28.  Teleflex Medical acquires Arrow International, which joins such popular names as Deknatel, Hudson RCI, KMedic and Pilling Weck – 2007

29.  The International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management plans to merge with the American Society for Healthcare Central Service Professionals – 2007

30.  MedAssets files an initial public offering – 2007

31.  The Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association plans to merge next year with the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers to form the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association - 2008

Editor’s Note: Did we miss anything? Be sure to tell us what and why on our blog at HPNBlogline or via e-mail. If we can collect enough intriguing suggestions we’ll publish a readers’ version.