Brightree bull's-eye expands beyond HME

ATLANTA - Brightree is poised to become a bigger presence in the post-acute care market now that it has acquired a home health and hospice software company, and it has home infusion and pharmacy applications in the works.

Chief Marketing Officer Chris Watson says HME provider customers who are developing new business lines and ownership models are driving Brightree's expansion into these new markets.

“They expect the lines to blur between different points of care, and they want Brightree as a single-source platform,” she said.

Brightree announced Jan. 4 that it acquired CareAnyware, a Raleigh, N.C., home health and hospice software provider, adding several hundred customers. Brightree now employs 500 and serves nearly 3,000.

More than new customers, CareAnyware will add new capabilities to Brightree's existing billing and business management software solutions, Watson says. Those include electronic medical record and scheduling capabilities.

“But the biggest is the point-of-care capability,” she said. “Being able to have the clinical forms and assessments at the point of care is the No. 1 advantage that we believe our customer base will receive from this acquisition.”

The new capabilities dovetail nicely with Brightree's commitment to spend $70 million on customer service and product developments over the next four years, Watson says. Already in the works in that vein: Brightree Community, an online discussion board for authorized customers; and Learning Lockers, an online learning environment.

Brightree expects to launch its home infusion and pharmacy applications this summer.

The company already has about 120 customers in the orthotics and prosthetics (O&P) market and 70 customers in the rehab market.

CareAnyware is Brightree's fourth acquisition since securing $4 billion in private investment from Battery Ventures in 2008. It follows Pacware in 2011, CAU in 2010 and C&S Billing in 2008.

“There's plenty of runway left,” Watson said.