EDEN PRAIRIE, MN – The Ingenix buying spree marches on. In its third major acquisition in less than a month – after its purchase of Picis and Executive Health Resources – the firm, which is the health IT division of UnitedHealth Group, announced on Monday that it is adding San Jose, Calif-based Axolotl to the fold.

Axolotl is a leading provider of services for the burgeoning health information exchange (HIE) market, and Ingenix executives say the combined company will better enable health information to be shared effectively and securely for the benefit of patients and providers. The Axolotl management team will remain in place and will lead Ingenix's efforts in healthcare community connectivity.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"HIEs are bringing us closer to the point where all the healthcare professionals patients select to oversee their care can connect to share information and optimize outcomes," said Andy Slavitt, chief executive officer of Ingenix. "We will work with Axolotl to continue to meet the needs of multiple HIE stakeholders and to expand its technologies that serve healthcare communities."

Axolotl develops and implements HIE solutions for states, communities, hospitals and health systems. Ingenix brings decision-support capabilities that can be combined with an HIE solution to further enhance health outcomes and improve efficiencies.

"This is a combination of two innovative, creative workforces that share a passion for making healthcare work better, and it comes at an important moment for HIE development," said Ray Scott, Axolotl's CEO. "Ingenix will enable us to accelerate our growth and help us continue to deploy our leading secure health information technology."

Ingenix currently provides health information technology and consulting solutions to more than 240,000 physicians and nearly 6,000 hospitals. Ingenix also serves multiple state and federal government agencies and health care payers with solutions, including decision support, care management, data warehousing, revenue cycle management, and with consulting on health and human services policy and program implementation.

Ingenix and Axolotl both offer solutions that are interoperable with multiple health information solutions. Axolotl's Elysium Exchange technology is used by nearly 30,000 physicians and 100,000 health care professionals in more than 200 hospitals, 20 regional health information organizations (RHIOs), and four statewide HIEs, touching the lives of more than 35 million patients.