Albuquerque health tech company Twistle wasn't looking to be acquired. But it was made an offer that it couldn't (continue to) refuse.
“We were not in the sale process. We were, in fact, [in] quite the opposite," said Twistle founder and CEO Kulmeet Singh. And then Health Catalyst, which provides data and analytics tech and services to health care organizations, approached the firm for a potential acquisition around the beginning of March. Twistle "didn't feel the timing was right," Singh said.
But Health Catalyst continued to make its case, and Twistle ultimately found that its technological capabilities were a good fit. The Utah-based company will acquire Twistle for an aggregate purchase price of about $104.5 million, including approximately $57.5 million in cash and $47 million in Health Catalyst common stock.
"Health catalyst, they’re a repository of a lot of data at these health systems," Singh said. The data firm has "rich profiles around patterns — clinical, financial quality profiles around patients," he continued, which Twistle can use to influence patient behavior.
Twistle offers patient engagement software that supports text, voice response and other forms of communication. With more patient data at its disposal, the company's technology may be able to provide more personalized types of engagement.
Likewise, Twistle's technology will also help Health Catalyst, which plans to pair Twistle's clinical workflow and patient engagement platform with one of its own offerings for a solution aimed at addressing population health. Patient communications previously performed by personnel will be automated, according to Singh.
"They know which populations of patients need to be engaged and how they can be engaged," he said, calling the "combination of data, analytics and engagement" a "silver bullet." He expects some employment growth to occur in Albuquerque.
Other factors played into the decision, including that Health Catalyst is located near Salt Lake City, a relatively short flight from Albuquerque. Business professionals have expressed interest in a regional airline service in the past.
The deal comes after the company disclosed a combined $18.2 million in investment in 2019 and 2020. The largest of the rounds, worth $16 million, was led by New York-based health care technology and services investment firm Health Enterprise Partners, which invested more than $7 million.
Twistle has about 65 employees and more than 40 customers, mainly health systems, according to Singh and an investor presentation from Health Catalyst. It has an approximate 35% anticipated revenue growth rate, the investor presentation says. Its growth plan involves developing care protocols for new markets.
The company previously said it provided real-time screening and monitoring to more than 77,000 at-risk, Covid-19 positive patients and staff, Business First reported.
