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Telemedicine company Amwell plans purchase two digital health companies for $320 million, which it will integrate into its virtual care platform, the Boston-based company said Wednesday.
Amwell expects the acquisitions of digital mental health platform SilverCloud Health and automated health service Conversa Health to close in the third quarter of 2021. The deals come as telehealth mergers and acquisitions dominated the market through the end of 2021’s second quarter.
“We believe that future care delivery will inevitably blend in-person, virtual and digital care experiences,” said Ido Schoenberg, chairman and co-CEO of Amwell, in a statement.
The acquisition of SilverCloud could help Amwell expand its reach within the UK and Ireland. The virtual platform offers cognitive behavioral health programs to the Irish Health Service Executive and over 80% of the UK’s National Health Service.
Amwell plans to build new specialty care services and behavioral health offerings through SilverCloud’s platform. The company said improving behavioral, longitudinal and chronic care are priorities.
“There is a tremendous unmet need for mental health solutions in today’s world,” said Ken Cahill, SilverCloud’s CEO, in a statement.
SilverCloud serviced over 750,000 patients to date, he said.
Amwell’s acquisition of Conversa Health is set to improve care coordination across its virtual platform. The service sends automated texts to monitor patients before and after virtual visits. Amwell also plans to use Conversa’s patient profiling and health signals engine to enhance its focus on longitudinal care, clinical quality and population health.
Northwell Health, UCSF Health, UNC Health, University Hospitals and Prisma Health have used Conversa’s messages to monitor patients after acute episodes and educate them before they are admitted for care.
Amwell posted $57.6 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2021, up 7.2% from the same period last year. The company is looking to differentiate itself in an increasingly crowded market of telehealth providers, experts said.
The digital health sector saw the highest number of mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2021 in over a decade, according to a 2021 Mercom Capital Group report. Mergers and acquisitions increased by 64% in the first half of 2021 compared with the first half of 2020. Telemedicine was involved in the most mergers, accounting for 25 of the 136 transactions, per the report.
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