ePLDT unit acquires Laguna Medical Systems

MANILA, Philippines - SPi, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) company, has acquired Laguna Medical Systems Inc. (LMS) for an aggregate purchase price of $8.25 million.

LMS has over 50 regionally-based consultants who assist more than 200 hospitals to achieve coding and billing compliance and to optimize entitled reimbursements for patient services. The 22-year-old company also offers Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) defense and recovery services to help healthcare providers manage and defend RAC audits.

“As a result of the significant focus on healthcare reform in the US, we have been actively tracking companies in the coding compliance space with the goal of finding one to acquire whose corporate culture and values match our own. LMS fits the bill. Their capabilities nicely complement our existing medical transcription, billing and revenue cycle management services and provide an excellent, new entry point for us into this rapidly growing $25-billion industry, SPi president and CEO Peter Maquera said.

“The inclusion of LMS’s service offerings in our healthcare portfolio allows us to strengthen our relationships with the more than 400 hospitals, multi-specialtyclinics and physician practices that we currently serve, and it increases our healthcare-specific employee base to more than 2,000 worldwide.”

“SPi’s acquisition of LMS is an excellent example of how we are executing on our strategic plan to accelerate growth and strengthen our position in the BPO arena,” stated Ray C. Espinosa, president and CEO of SPi parent company ePLDT.

“Recognizing the rapid and continued growth in the healthcare industry, we are committed to expanding our platform in this area and are delighted to be adding another annuity-based business to our overall BPO portfolio,” he added.

ePLDT is the information and communications technology subsidiary of telecoms giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

Mike Beninato, president and CEO of Spi’s wholly-owned medical billing and revenue cycle management company. Springfield Service Corp. (SSC), said “SSC’s management team is equally pleased with the acquisition of KMS and looks forward to merging its service offerings with our own.”

“As it is becoming increasingly important for healthcare providers to significantly improve their efficiency while simultaneously lowering their costs. LMS’s coding, audit and compliance consulting services, along with the rest of SPI’s offerings, provide a critical set of capabilities for organizations navigating their way through today’s ever-changing healthcare landscape. We look forward to working with LMS to integrate its offerings with ours and to achieve continued growth and profitability together in the years ahead,” he said.