Jhunjhunwala family-backed IKS Health acquires U.S. health-tech firm for ₹1,600 cr; plans IPO by Q4 FY24
IKS Health, backed by late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Rare Enterprises, has acquired U.S.-based health-tech solution firm AQuity Solutions for $200 million (around ₹1,600 crore). The healthcare platform is also considering an initial public offering (IPO) by the fourth quarter of this financial year.
Founded in 2006, IKS Health (Inventurus Knowledge Solutions Limited) provides administrative, clinical and operational services to healthcare organisations in the United States.
Sachin K. Gupta, Founder and CEO of IKS Health, says the company will raise ₹1,000 crore from three leading banks including JP Morgan, CITI and SMBC for financing the acquisition and the remaining ₹600 crore from internal accruals.
Post completion of the acquisition, AQuity Solutions will become wholly-owned subsidiary of IKS Health. Headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, AQuity provides tech-enabled clinical documentation, medical coding, and revenue integrity solutions for healthcare firms.
The acquisition would help IKS Health to create a comprehensive provider of administrative, clinical and financial services for healthcare organisations in the U.S, it says in a release.
“IKS Health’s market leadership in the ambulatory market will be coupled with AQuity’s market leadership in the acute care market to create an entity that enables clinicians and their enterprises to deliver better, safer, more efficient care across the continuum of care delivery,” the release says.
As per the release, the combined company, which will operate as IKS Health, will have annual revenues of around $330 million (₹2,700 crore), as well as a global workforce of over 14,000 employees serving over 150,000 clinicians in many of the largest hospitals, health systems, and specialty groups in the United States.
The combined company’s 14,000 plus employees include 1,500 clinicians, over 350 technology experts, medical coders, revenue integrity specialists, and clinical documentation specialists.
Gupta says that the company expects to recruit 50,000 more resources within the next three years. The addition of employees would be over and above the current team strength of 14,000 people.
“U.S. Healthcare is in crisis, one that is deepening from all sides. Financial instability, large-scale staffing challenges, and the precarious health status of so many Americans all call for deeper, more comprehensive solutions that address these root issues,” says Gupta.
“Delivering better, safer care is everyone’s top priority—but too often, the ‘chores’ of healthcare get in the way of that core purpose... The coming together of IKS and AQuity allows us to enable clinicians with their chores across the continuum of care,” he adds.
As per the release, this acquisition advances IKS Health’s care enablement platform, consisting of technology and service offerings that span revenue optimisation, clinical support, value-based care, and digital health solutions.
Specifically, AQuity’s rich datasets will enable IKS to rapidly mature and scale its proprietary AI solutions with critical expertise and guidance from Reinforced Learning Through Human Feedback (RLHF), it adds.
The acquisition follows recent strategic technology investments in Abridge, a generative AI platform to reduce administrative burden and Sift Healthcare, a predictive analytics solution for revenue cycle management. IKS’s cloud-based, HIPAA compliant platform integrates with all EHR and Enterprise Practice Management systems.