EXHIBIT 99.1
[PROXYMED LOGO] COMPANY NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
JUDSON E. SCHMID
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
954-473-1001, EXT. 300
INVESTORRELATIONS@PROXYMED.COM
PROXYMED ACQUIRES MEDUNITE FROM NATION'S SEVEN LARGEST PAYERS - Acquisition
adds 90 million healthcare transactions, 30,000 physicians and almost $20
million in annual revenue, bringing preferred relationships with the
industry's largest payers -
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA. (Business Wire) January 2, 2003 -- ProxyMed,
Inc. (Nasdaq:PILL), a leading provider of physician office transaction
processing services, today announced that it has acquired 100% of the capital
stock of MedUnite, Inc., a private company founded by seven of the nation's
largest health insurers, for $10.0 million in cash and $13.4 million in 4%
convertible debt. MedUnite shall be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of
ProxyMed.
This acquisition unites ProxyMed's physician claims platform - the
nation's second largest - with MedUnite's real-time Internet-based platform -
one of the largest in the industry. In conjunction with the acquisition,
ProxyMed has formed a strategic relationship with NDCHealth Corporation (NYSE:
NDC) to process claim and real-time transactions generated from the 100,000
physician clients on their Lytec and MediSoft practice management solutions.
The acquisition of MedUnite by ProxyMed will create an organization
with over:
- $70 million in annual revenues
- 140,000 physicians and other healthcare providers
- 200 million healthcare transactions processed annually
"ProxyMed's acquisition of MedUnite will create the nation's second
largest physician-based transaction processing company, second only to WebMD
(Nasdaq: HLTH). We are excited by this opportunity to significantly grow our
business while expanding our relationship with our payer partners and
NDCHealth," said Michael Hoover, Chairman and CEO of ProxyMed.
"The strategic relationship between NDCHealth and ProxyMed for
physician claims transactions and automated enrollment processing will
significantly benefit both companies," said Walter M. Hoff, Chief Executive
Officer of NDC Health. "ProxyMed has built a solid and seamless network of
physician and institutional connectivity solutions with excellent customer
service levels. The addition of MedUnite's suite of products and services truly
creates one the industry's most impressive offerings."
The process to select the purchaser of MedUnite was extremely
competitive and involved many of the major industry players. Among other
reasons, ProxyMed was selected due to (i) its existing relationships with each
of the founding seven insurers, (ii) its industry leading FOCUS program for
converting paper submitting physicians to electronic transactions, and (iii)
its ability to provide a full service alternative platform to the payer and
provider marketplace, one of the goals of MedUnite's founders. In addition,
ProxyMed will expand and build on MedUnite's state-of-the-art network platform
for processing real-time transactions. That network has direct real-time
connectivity to all seven founders for processing transactions such as
eligibility, claims status, referrals and authorizations. ProxyMed plans to
cross-sell these new transactions to its existing 110,000 physician clients,
creating a large potential for transaction growth.
"This is a major step forward in ProxyMed's long-term strategy to
become the leading provider of transaction processing capabilities in the
healthcare industry," said Braden Kelly, Partner with General Atlantic Partners
and ProxyMed Board Member. "Given MedUnite's payer founders and the investment
they have made in the company and its technology, it is a unique asset in the
industry. Through this transaction, ProxyMed has solidified relationships with
its payer partners, significantly expanded its physician network base, and
expanded its real-time transaction processing capabilities. We are enthusiastic
about the potential of the combined company."
"With the MedUnite technology established, the MedUnite founders
wanted to expand the availability of the technology to the maximum number of
physicians as quickly as possible. After a rigorous evaluation process, the
founders decided to merge MedUnite into ProxyMed as the best way to achieve the
critical mass needed to maximize physician adoption for these new and important
services," said Jay Gellert, Chairman of the Board of MedUnite and Chief
Executive Officer of HealthNet.
CONFERENCE CALLS:
ProxyMed executive management will host two live teleconference calls
to discuss its acquisition of MedUnite. Both calls are accessible by calling
1-800-915-4836 on the dates noted below and will be simultaneously broadcast on
the Internet at www.proxymed.com:
- Strategic Impact of Acquisition - Today, Thursday January 2,
2003 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
- Expected Financial Results of Acquisition - to be discussed
at the Company's previously announced updated guidance call
to be held on January 7, 2003 at 10:00 a.m Eastern Time.
ProxyMed estimates that the acquisition of MedUnite will be
dilutive to its financial results for 2003, but accretive for
2004 and beyond.
Replays of both teleconference calls will be available at
www.proxymed.com approximately two hours after each call.
ABOUT MEDUNITE, INC.
MedUnite is an independent full-service technology firm founded by
seven of the nation's leading health plans: Aetna, Anthem, CIGNA, Health Net,
Oxford, PacifiCare and WellPoint. MedUnite promotes the evolution of healthcare
transactions from an inefficient, paper-based system to an economical,
real-time Internet-based connectivity tool for physicians, insurers,
laboratories and other healthcare constituents. For more information on
MedUnite's transaction services call 1-800-586-6870, email:
provider.info@medunite.com, or visit: www.medunite.com.
ABOUT PROXYMED - WHERE HEALTHCARE CONNECTS(TM)
ProxyMed solves the business problems of physician offices every day
by automating their financial, administrative and clinical transactions with
healthcare institutions. To facilitate these services, ProxyMed operates
ProxyNet(R), its secure, proprietary national electronic information network,
which provides physicians and other healthcare providers with direct
connectivity to one of the industry's largest list of payers, the largest list
of chain and independent pharmacies and the largest list of clinical
laboratories. ProxyMed exceeds customer expectations through our expertise,
proven methodologies and dedication to service excellence.
More information on ProxyMed is available on its home page at
http://www.proxymed.com.
Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect our
current assumptions and expectations regarding future events, including without
limitation the statements relating to the opportunities presented by this
acquisition and the implementation of any associated agreements, including
without limitations, the new strategic relationship with NDCHealth, the
expected financial impact on ProxyMed of this acquisition, ProxyMed's ability
to expand MedUnite's network platform, ProxyMed's ability to create significant
transaction growth as a result of the acquisition, and the benefit to ProxyMed
of the new relationships the acquisition has allowed it to establish .. While
these statements reflect our current judgment, they are subject to risks and
uncertainties. Actual results may differ significantly from projected results
due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to our ability to
successfully integrate this acquisition and implement any associated
agreements, the soundness of our business strategies relative to the perceived
market opportunities and attendant risk; our ability to identify suitable
market opportunities and other acquisition candidates, if any; our ability to
successfully integrate any such future acquisitions; our ability to
successfully develop, market, sell, cross-sell, install and upgrade our
clinical and financial transaction services, including without limitations, our
ability under our FOCUS program for converting paper submitting physicians to
electronic transactions, and applications to current and new physicians,
payers, medical laboratories and pharmacies; our ability to compete effectively
on price and support services; our assessment of the healthcare industry's
need, desire and ability to become technology efficient; and our ability and
that of our business associates to comply with various government rules
regarding healthcare and patient privacy. These and other risk factors are more
fully discussed in the Risk Factors disclosure in our Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2001 and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, which we strongly urge you to read. We expressly disclaim any
intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements. When used, the
words "believes," "estimated," "expects," "anticipates," "may" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.