Mediware makes homecare play

LENEXA, Kan. - Mediware Information Systems has nearly doubled its customer base in the HME, home infusion and home health markets by acquiring Plainview, N.Y.-based Fastrack Healthcare Systems.

Mediware now has 700 customers, with the addition of Fastrack's 300.

“We've had a strategy of being in the alternate care solutions business for four years now,” said Kelly Mann, president and CEO. “We like this space—we like the aging population and the payment regulations. We're good at building software that supports complex markets.”

Mediware made its first big move in the market in 2011, when it acquired the assets of CareCentric's HME, home infusion and home health software businesses. It also has software for three other healthcare-related markets, with an eye toward managing patient information across various segments of the care continuum.

Mann says Mediware will allow Fastrack customers to continue using their existing software. Down the road, though, the company plans to build a software program that bundles HME, home infusion and home health, and he hopes they'll make the switch.

“As they're expanding their businesses into different areas, they need the multiple parts of their business held together by one product,” he said. “We're collecting the resources to do that.”

Being backed by Thoma Bravo, a Chicago-based private equity firm that bought the company late last year for $195 million, gives Mediware the financial resources for additional acquisitions and software development, Mann says.

“That has been a really positive thing for us,” he said. “In the past, we were limited by our own ability to generate cash and revenue.”

Although Fastrack has been an industry standard for HME software for 19 years, its customers will benefit from now being part of a company with greater resources, says Spencer Kay, CEO.

“We just thought it was the right timing, with the challenges in the market, to have a bigger, stronger company behind the product, supporting our customers,” said Kay, who will stay on as a consultant for several months. “Long term, there'll also be an opportunity for more products and services.”

Of the challenges in the market, Mann says: “We have a lot of talent to help this group out.”