Induction Healthcare Group have announced their intention to acquire patient engagement platform Zesty Limited for a sum of £12.7 million. The acquisition will enable the digital healthcare company to create an integrated platform where patients, clinicians and healthcare organisations are interconnected.
The proposal, which must be approved by Zesty shareholders before it is finalised, will see the digital transformation platform bought for £500,000 and approximately £12.2 million in New Ordinary Shares. The company has recently reported a loss in profits.
WHY IT MATTERS
The Induction Group already has two health engagement platforms across health markets worldwide, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US. The Induction app connects doctors and other healthcare workers to one another by allowing them to securely source and share information in a clinical setting. The MicroGuide app enables medical organisations to collaboratively create and manage their clinical guidelines on a secure, locally-administrated platform.
Induction has over 119,000 users in the UK and MicroGuide is currently used by approximately 75% of all NHS trusts. Uptake has increased notably on both platforms since January 2020.
Zesty provides a platform for patients to access their medical records, manage their outpatient appointments, attend remote consultations and read and store clinical correspondences. This streamlined approach to secondary and community care saves time and resources, as well as empowering patients with more control over their healthcare. It is currently used at more than 20 NHS sites.
Through the acquisition of Zesty, the Induction Group will be able to coalesce platforms that integrate patients, clinicians and healthcare information sources across multiple sites and EPRs. By pooling their resources, the new group hope to develop their products faster and improve their growth opportunities.
THE LARGER PICTURE
Streamlining care has been at the forefront of digital health adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic, as resources are stretched and everyone is trying to control the spread of the virus. Interoperability has been central to many of these innovations, as well as focusing on a more patient-centred approach to care, particularly around remote monitoring and improved data-sharing capabilities.
ON THE RECORD
CEO of Induction Dr Hugo Stephenson said of the acquisition: “Zesty has demonstrated that it can improve patient experience while saving hospitals time and money through its market leading patient portal and outpatient bookings engine. In the process, Zesty has solved the problem of integrating with different electronic patient record systems. Connecting the most used app by NHS doctors (Induction) and the most used app by NHS trusts (MicroGuide) with patients and their health records, has the potential to deliver the right resources to the right places at the right time – a transformational opportunity for healthcare.”
CEO of Zesty James Balmain added: “Induction and Zesty coming together can help improve the way healthcare is delivered. […] We will be working as hard as we can to help bring clinical teams and patients together, in an efficient and low-friction way. The COVID-19 pandemic has focused minds within healthcare on the benefits of using digital technology in all sorts of ways – I think we can and should be doing more.”
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