Regulator provisionally clears £1.2bn health software acquisition
A proposed £1.2bn deal in which UnitedHealth Group will buy Leeds-headquartered EMIS has been provisionally cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
In March of this year, the regulator said it believed the intended takeover by Optum – which is a business platform of US healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group, could lead to “worse outcomes for the NHS and ultimately patients and UK taxpayers.”
It went ahead with an in depth, phase two investigation of the deal, after its phase one probe found competition could be “substantially reduced”, specifically in the Population Health Management and medicines optimisation software markets, which enable the safe and effective use of medicines).
EMIS is a large supplier of data management systems to the NHS. This includes supplying the electronic patient record system used by the majority of NHS GPs in the UK.
Optum currently supplies software used by GPs when prescribing medicines, as well as data analytics and advisory services that the NHS uses to help improve overall healthcare and health service provision.
Today – August 11 – the CMA has published a summary of its provisional findings from its phase two investigation into the merger.
While this has cleared the way for the deal, the CMA will still need to publicly consult on its provisional findings before reaching a final decision by 5 October 2023.
