Information services provider Wolters Kluwer Health (WK Health), US, has announced an agreement to acquire Health Language, Inc., a leader in Medical Terminology Management (MTM), a rapidly growing segment of the point-of-care market. The acquisition is part of WK Health's strategy to continually enhance its leadership position in the point of care market by providing customers with access to a comprehensive set of evidence-based disease and drug information knowledge platforms and robust software solutions.
Health Language's medical content terminology databases and software solutions enable hospitals, electronic medical record system providers (EMRs) and payers around the globe to manage, update and map disparate medical vocabularies and administrative codes used in US and international settings. MTM is expected to see rapid growth as healthcare entities become increasingly interconnected and the need for sharing clinical data grows. This trend has been accelerated by Meaningful Use legislation in the US, promoting the use of electronic health records and evidence-based medicine to improve quality standards in health care.
Health Language databases and software products include more than 180 standard terminologies and proprietary content sets to enable easier information sharing across many healthcare information technology systems. The company also provides clinical content and professional services to enable interoperability, web-based terminology mapping, Meaningful Use compliance and ICD-10 conversion, a system of coding created by the World Health Organization that is in various phases of implementation worldwide. The company's products and services are highly complementary with those of Wolters Kluwer Health.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
