Compuware's Covisint Buys Clinical Reporting Company

Covisint, a subsidiary of Detroit-based Compuware Corp. (Nasdaq: CPWR), has acquired DocSite, an award-winning clinical decision support and quality performance management company based in Raleigh, N.C.

Covisint says DocSite will allow it to offer better systems for exchanging and analyzing clinical and patient information in a secure environment across the health care delivery system.

The offering will be immediately available to the more than 68,000 care givers already on the Covisint secure data exchange platform, positioning Covisint to win future business.

Compuware didn't immediately disclose the purchase price, saying it was "not material" to its operations. The acquisition is expected to add a small amount to earnings.

Some 30 DocSite employees will become Covisint employees and will work at Compuware's office in Durham, N.C., eight miles away from DocSite's current offices.

The federal stimulus includes $17 billion for doctors to adopt electronic medical record and communication software, but requires them to meet a written standard of "meaningful use." Compuware says that adding DocSite to Covisint's secure platform-as-a-service model will give its customers an advantage in securing these funds through quality care. This will in turn give Covisint a competitive advantage in winning large, state Health Information Exchange and other contracts related to the secure access and exchange of health information.

"The writing is on the wall: the U.S. healthcare system now demands outcome-based care, and this visionary acquisition positions Covisint as the leader in this space for years to come," said David McGuffie, Covisint president and COO. "DocSite meets and exceeds the needs of doctors, hospitals and health systems in providing interconnected care, quality management and reporting -- all of which helps physicians and hospitals obtain needed stimulus monies in today's competitive, pay-for-performance environment."

DocSite's point-of-care decision support, population management, quality and pay-for-performance reporting solutions, combined with Covisint's secure, highly scalable platform, offer the quality decision support and secure information delivery care givers need to meet meaningful use now and in the evolving world of accountable care organizations. Together, the solutions will support HIE success, provide tools for measurement and offer seamless, simple usability at the point of care.

DocSite was founded by Detroit native John Haughton, who obtained bachelor's and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. Originally based in Boston, the company later moved to North Carolina to follow a major client.

Haughton said that "Covisint's acquisition of DocSite is the right solution at precisely the right time, particularly in today's health care world of strategic, health information sharing initiatives that demand effective care, quality measurement and IT adoption."

Brett Furst, Covisint vice president for health care, said DocSite was originally a customer of Covisint's partnering technology called App Cloud, which allows users to bring in third-party applications to Covisint communities. After about eight months of DocSite as a customer, the last month or so was spent in the buyout talks, Fuast and Haughton said.

Furst said executives in health care "look at the Covisint platform and its great scalability and great security, but sometimes wonder what they do with it once they've got it. With Docsite, we can provide great analytics and decision support, best practices on caregiving, the best ways to reach federal government incentives."

Besides the employees in Durham, Furst said Covisint "expects to expand our employee base here in Detroit as a result of this."

Haughton said DocSite can be "layered on" doctors' existing electronic health systems to "give them more functionality and secure scale between organizations." Less than 20 percent of doctors nationwide have adopted a full-blown electronic health record system, a huge opportunity for DocSite and Covisint, Haughton said.

Haughton said DocSite uses a simple Web browser interface with two main pages -- one on what's happening to individual patienbts and one on what's happening to the entire patient population.

DocSite products give medical practitioners affordable, easy-to-use tools tied to evidence-based guidelines that reduce practice variation, enhance communication and support patient self-care initiatives. DocSite's clients include independent practice associations, group practices, health plans, hospitals and individual physicians. More at www.docsite.com.

Covisint is a recognized cloud computing pioneer driving the on-demand revolution that helps organizations connect, communicate and collaborate with their partners -- enabling anywhere, anytime information. The Covisint ExchangeLink platform provides industry-specific services for identity management, collaborative portals and data exchange, as well as a third-party application marketplace. More at www.covisint.com.

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