Client Impact of NextGen Medfusion Patient Portal Acquisition

NextGen Acquires Medfusion: What Does it Mean for Clients?

Acquisitions happen every day, but few generate as much excitement as the recent NextGen acquisition of Medfusion. The combination of two leaders in healthcare technology promises better experiences for both patients and providers. The $43 million cash deal is expected to close in December 2019, creating a powerhouse of ambulatory medical technology and customer service. So far, reactions to the agreement have been largely positive since it bolsters patient engagement as well as improves NextGen's financial outlook. The two companies' strengths complement each other in several ways.

Medfusion Strengths

Medfusion is known as a premier HCIT that emphasizes patient experience and enables the efficient retrieval of patient information from electronic health records (EHRs). In particular, clients embrace the company for its advanced, user-friendly patient portal.

The Medfusion patient platform is a sophisticated portal that's interface is compatible with any computing device. Patients can easily schedule appointments, check-in for treatment, and make payments via Medfusion. The system eliminates many of the frustrations that a trip to a medical provider can cause: 

• No lengthy check-in waits 

• Reams of repetitive paperwork 

• Online payment options make the financial aspect of medical care more transparent while saving the patient time

Providers benefit from a higher degree of patient satisfaction and a reduction of operating expenses. Medical personnel can focus more on the treatment of patients and less on management, which means providers save money while improving patient care.

Medfusion also offers automatic satisfaction surveys that delivered upon patient checkout. Providers can quickly identify and correct problems in patient care and other procedures. Because providers can take immediate action to resolve issues, it protects their reputation from damaging social media hits as well as other poor publicity.

Medfusion has a dedicated client portfolio due to its superior platform, making it a dominant market player on its own. The combination of Medfusion and NextGen is a formidable development for its competitors, who will find it challenging to match their customer-service capabilities.

NextGen Strengths

NextGen is already a giant in the ambulatory healthcare industry and offers advanced EHR/EMR and EPM/RCM software that improves provider efficiency and patient satisfaction. Its integrated technology and services platforms work to streamline medical practices of all sizes, including those of general practitioners and specialists.

The company is influential and popular with clients. Users consistently give NextGen technology high marks, noting that it is affordable, easy to use, and comes with excellent customer support. In addition, NextGen analytics help providers critique their services so they can quickly correct any deficiencies.

Since its inception in 1974, NextGen has been a leader in developing health IT solutions, including state-of-the-art electronic health care record systems, advanced health care exchanges, practice management tools, and innovations in population health and mobile technology solutions. Recently, they have received praise for improvements to NextGen Enterprise, their premier practice management and EHR system. These upgrades include "intuitive visual dashboards, financial intelligence, and proactive management tools." Although NextGen already offered an excellent patient-based software experience, they have cemented their leadership in this area by acquiring Medfusion.

Acquisition Benefits

NextGen Healthcare management believes the acquisition of Medfusion will strengthen their efforts in several important areas, including improving patient experience and increasing patient access to healthcare. More and more, patients expect to exercise control over all of their medical needs. NextGen and Medfusion combined will give them more power to do so.

The Medfusion Patient Experience Platform should make NextGen Healthcare competitive with Epic's My Chart, considered to be an industry leader in patient IT services. Medfusions's Patient Experience Platform offers a patient portal that works on any computing device. Patient intake, scheduling, and payments can take place using this portal so that the average person can handle all of these tasks from their smartphone or tablet. They are no longer overwhelmed by the bureaucracy of making a simple medical visit, which means they are more likely to get the routine and urgent health care that they need.

This platform already has over 16 million users, so NextGen will instantly become more dominant in patient-directed IT services. Financial experts note that this move on the part of NextGen is particularly timely since predictions for the HCIT market show that it should reach $392 billion by 2024, in part due to global healthcare reforms.

While the acquisition of Medfusion makes NextGen even more of a healthcare technology giant, the biggest benefits will go to both providers and patients. Providers will find managing their practices easier and more profitable. The ease of the Medfusion patient platform allows them to focus on patient care instead of office management tasks.

The acquisition perhaps benefits patients the most because it empowers them to make their own healthcare decisions. They will have access to more information and choices about their care and will spend less time navigating medical bureaucracy. They can manage most aspects of this care using standard mobile computing devices from home or work. As long as they have their smartphones, they can keep abreast of their EHRs, provider appointments, and medical payments.

The acquisition of Medfusion by NextGen promises to be one of those industry moves that benefits everyone involved. Expectations from the financial and medical sectors are quite positive. The deal is expected to be finalized in December 2019, which should make 2020 a good year for medical providers and patients who embrace this technology.