Hill-Rom Acquires Voalte for $180 Million to Enhance Integrated Healthcare Communication and Digital Care Solutions

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that Hill-Rom (NYSE: HRC) announced on March 11, 2019, that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Voalte for $180 million in cash. Voalte is a pioneer and leader in real-time mobile healthcare communication. This acquisition of Voalte accelerates Hill-Rom’s leadership in the communications sector and enhances the company’s digital and mobile communication platform capabilities.

Voalte, founded in 2008, is dedicated to simplifying communication methods and improving workflows across the entire healthcare system. Headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, the company currently serves more than 200 healthcare clients, with its unique mobile platform comprising over 84,000 devices. Voalte’s integrated communication platform currently connects 220,000 caregivers across healthcare enterprises, supporting voice, alert, and text communications.

Voalte’s integrated communications platform will be integrated with Hill-Rom’s nurse call business, a combination that will further strengthen Hill-Rom’s connected care solutions—including smart hospital beds, vital signs monitors, the LINQ™ mobile app, and its expanding suite of digital products—to deliver better care for patients and their care teams.

“Interoperability and connectivity have become key factors in delivering high-quality healthcare, reducing hospital stays, and improving the efficiency of healthcare systems,” said John P. Groetelaars, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hill-Rom. “Voalte strategically aligns with our vision to advance connected care, enhancing workflows and providing real-time actionable insights, while accelerating growth and delivering an attractive profit profile. We look forward to and welcome close collaboration with the talented Voalte team, leveraging Voalte’s technology, capabilities, and extensive customer base to improve outcomes for patients and their caregivers.”

“Our scalable enterprise communication platform has proven to be a critical tool in the digital transformation of healthcare systems, and we look forward to further developing our platform to align with Hill-Rom’s vision for connected care,” said Trey Lauderdale, CEO of Voalte. “The combination of the two companies will enable us to provide customers with an integrated solution that delivers actionable data from smart beds, nurse call systems, and patient monitoring technologies directly to caregivers’ mobile devices.”

Hill-Rom expects the transaction to close in the third quarter of 2019, subject to closing conditions.

Hill-Rom is a global leader in the supply of patient care products and services. Founded in 1929 and headquartered in Batesville, Indiana, Hill-Rom offers a wide range of products and services for acute care, long-term care, and home care settings, under multiple brands including Hill-Rom, Liko, Trumpf Medical, Aspen, and Allen. The products and services provided by Hill-Rom include: facility assessments, patient care beds, stretchers, therapeutic mattresses, sequential compression devices, nurse call systems, workflow systems, headwall medical gas and utility systems, and hospital room furniture.

Voalte, founded in 2008, is a healthcare technology company based in Sarasota, Florida. Voalte develops smartphone communication solutions to help improve the efficiency of care team communications. The company provides a leading mobile communication platform that enables care teams both inside and outside hospitals to securely access and exchange information. Currently, Voalte’s solutions are used by 220,000 caregivers across the United States.

(Compiled by Tan Xin)