For info of anyone interested in NHS Direct triage systems, yet
another acquisition affecting the American providers...
>
>SAN FRANCISCO and ATLANTA--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 18, 1998--
>
>Merger Combines the No. 1 Healthcare Supply Management and the No. 1 Healthcare Information Companies To Give Unparalleled
>Offering Across Full Continuum of Care; Uniting Information and Supply Management Leaders Will Improve Productivity and Clinical
>Outcomes for Healthcare Delivery
>
>McKesson Corporationand HBO & Company today announced that the two companies have signed a definitive merger agreement for McKesson to acquire HBOC.
>
>This merger will create the world's first comprehensive
>healthcare supply management and information solutions company,
>uniting the top-performing, rapidly growing leaders in their
>respective industries: McKesson, the No. 1 healthcare supply
>management company, and HBOC, the No. 1 healthcare information
>company.
>
>Terms of the merger call for each HBOC shareholder to receive
>0.37 shares of McKesson common stock for each share of HBOC stock in a
>tax-free exchange. The merger, which is subject to regulatory
>approval, McKesson and HBOC shareholder approval and other customary
>conditions, will be accounted for as a pooling of interests and is
>anticipated to close in the first quarter of 1999.
>
>Following the merger, the company will be named McKesson HBOC.
>McKesson HBOC will be the world's leading healthcare services company,
>with the greatest breadth of product offerings and deepest reach in
>both the healthcare supply and healthcare information sectors.
>
>The two companies have a combined customer base of approximately
>5,000 hospitals, 25,000 retail pharmacies, 35,000 physician practices,
>10,000 extended care sites, 600 payors, 450 pharmaceutical
>manufacturers and 2,000 medical-surgical manufacturers. McKesson HBOC
>will serve the full continuum of healthcare in the United States and
>have operations in 10 countries abroad.
>
>``The fragmentation of healthcare information and therapeutic
>product supply among the many sites and organizations involved in
>healthcare delivery is a major impediment to improving clinical
>outcomes and achieving productivity gains; Charles W. McCall,
>chairman, president and chief executive officer of HBOC, and Mark A.
>Pulido, president and chief executive officer of McKesson, said
>jointly.
>
>``Our vision for McKesson HBOC is a comprehensive offering to
>improve productivity and clinical outcomes for the U.S. healthcare
>system. The complementary capabilities of McKesson and HBOC span the
>entire information and supply cost structure across the full continuum
>of healthcare, enabling McKesson HBOC to uniquely offer the
>most-comprehensive array of products and technology.
>
>``We will provide the tools and technologies to enable healthcare
>providers to increase their efficiency, reducing their costs of doing
>business, while at the same time improving the quality of care for
>patients.
>
>etc...
>
>
>

-- 
Lynn Woods
Managing Director, Adastra Software Ltd   www.adastra.co.uk
Call Management Systems/Mobile Data/Computer Networks/24hr support




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