Elsevier acquires ExitCare

Elsevier on Tuesday announced its acquisition of Lake Elmo, Minn.-based ExitCare, which develops tools for patient education and discharge instructions. Elsevier plans to combine ExitCare materials with its clinical decision support technology, making them available independently or through an EHR.

[See also: Elsevier, ExitCare collaboration to help with meaningful use]

ExitCare provides peer-reviewed patient education and discharge instructions. Together, Elsevier and ExitCare officials say their tools can offer providers information necessary to ensure patients are discharged in accordance with Joint Commission and meaningful use requirements.

ExitCare's products, incorporated into Elsevier's portfolio of clinical decision support content and tools, will help healthcare providers improve the delivery of healthcare information and services by interdisciplinary care teams across care environments, officials say. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

"This acquisition allows Elsevier to offer a more comprehensive and better integrated point-of-care decision support solution to our customers," said Jay Katzen, managing director of Elsevier's clinical decision support division. "ExitCare's team and offerings add substantial expertise and depth in patient education to our suite of solutions, and we look forward to providing an enhanced experience for our customers as they work to improve patient safety and outcomes."

[See also: Elsevier boosts healthcare analytics offerings with MEDai acquisition]

Elsevier officials say ExitCare will provide it with print, electronic and video patient education content and tools aimed at increasing patient engagement and reducing readmissions. The technology can also meet the needs of hospitals and office-based physicians who want to offer a multimedia education experience for their patients.  

"Together we address the needs of hospitals, urgent care centers and physicians' practices that must empower patients with informational and educational content," said ExitCare President Roger Jacobi. With a dozen different languages and "content that contains meta tags including ICD-9 and 10, CPT, gender, age, cognitive level, language and more," he says ExitCare's tools "will enable Elsevier customers to answer the demands of various patient populations."

[See also: Elsevier boosts healthcare analytics offerings with MEDai acquisition.]