Prosperity Behavioral Health, a startup that makes financial products for the behavioral health industry, has acquired revenue cycle management company Elevated Billing.
The new acquisition fits Prosperity’s growth strategy by creating new market opportunities for the company and expanding its offerings. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“Ultimately, we want to be consultative and be able to advise [clients],” Michelle Mullany, CEO of Prosperity Behavioral Health, told Behavioral Health Business. “We want to see the shift from being a commodity and very tactical in terms of billing … to a much broader view of how the billing and RCM systems really drive the core of the business for any treatment provider.”
As the health care sector – including behavioral health care – has become more complex and value-centric, billing and operations have become more complicated as well. Broadly, a need for greater sophistication has driven consolidation and M&A activity among technology partner and service vendors.
“Adding Elevated helps us service new markets, helps us provide services better and faster,” Mullany continued. “And it will help us prove that the model of efficient revenue cycle management is a key component to running any operation.”
Specifically, the purchase of Elevated will give Prosperity a foothold with new markets in the Mountain region, including Utah and Idaho. It also provides Prosperity access to data sources in this region, including valuable payer data.
“We don’t want just to take bills and submit them to the insurance company,” Mullany said. “We want to be able to look at a facility’s overall revenue cycle and say, ‘We can make improvements in this area.’ We really [want] to be able to inform them on which payers to go in-network with and be a true partner.”
This new acquisition comes just months after private equity firm NewSpring Capital invested in Prosperity to help it expand its services and achieve long-term growth. NewSpring Capital has invested over $1 billion since its inception, investing in over 200 businesses with a focus on lower-middle market companies.
Other health care-related investments from NewSpring Capital include InHome Therapy, MacroHealth, RecoverCare and Sun Behavioral Health, the latter of which is a provider of behavioral health services in a psychiatric hospital setting.
“I think if our goal is really to serve our customers in a better, faster, more comprehensive, efficient way with more data sources, the capital that we received last year is an accelerator to that,” Mullany said. “The investment we receive really helps us look at different companies and scale and grow more rapidly.”
Utah-based Elevated Billing Solutions provides billing services for the behavioral health industry, including specific solutions for mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers. Its products help providers navigate verification of benefits, pre-authorization and utilization review, billing and claim management, and appeals and denial management.
Similarly, Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Prosperity has also developed billing services for the behavioral health industry. Prosperity works with treatment providers and business owners to offer data and analytics insights, verification of benefits, accounting and utilization review.
“We met Prosperity’s leadership and knew right away that together, we could offer clients something special,” Jessica Anderson, CEO of Elevated Billing, said in a statement. “We are looking forward to the future and are grateful for Prosperity’s support.”
This isn’t Prosperity’s first transaction. In 2019, the company merged with fellow behavioral health financial service company Vertex Health Services.
Prosperity isn’t the only financial service company focused on the behavioral health space, either. For example, Kareo is a behavioral health-focused electronic health record, which also has billing and managed billing capabilities.
Companies featured in this article:
Elevated Billing, NewSpring Capital, Prosperity Behavioral Health
