Hill-Rom Acquires Healthcare Communications Company In $180M Deal

Hill-Rom is acquiring Florida-based Voalte, Inc.

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(Chicago, Ill.) – Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. will acquire a company specializing in real-time, mobile healthcare communications company in a $180 million deal announced Monday.

Hill-Rom, now headquartered in Chicago but still with a large manufacturing operation in Batesville, said in a news release it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Voalte, Inc. The deal includes cash considerations of $180 million and up to an additional $15 million in payments related to the achievement of certain commercial milestones.

The acquisition of the Sarasota, Florida-based company “accelerates Hill-Rom's leadership in care communications and advances the company's digital and mobile communications platform and capabilities.”

"Interoperability and connectivity have become critical elements in providing quality healthcare, reducing length of stay and driving efficiencies across the healthcare continuum," said John P. Groetelaars, president and CEO of Hill-Rom. "This transaction strategically fits with our vision of advancing connected care to improve workflow and real-time actionable insights at the point of care, while driving accelerated growth and delivering an attractive margin profile. We look forward to welcoming and working closely with the talented Voalte team, and benefiting from Voalte's technology, capabilities and substantial installed customer base to enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers."

Voalte was founded in 2008 and has annual revenue of almost $40 million. It currently serves more than 200 healthcare customers with more than 84,000 devices on its unique mobile platform. 

Voalte CEO Trey Lauderdale said the company’s scalable enterprise communication platform is proving to be a critical tool in the digital transformation of healthcare systems.

"Bringing our companies together will allow us to offer customers a single, integrated solution – delivering actionable data from smart hospital beds, nurse call and patient monitoring technology right to a caregiver's mobile device,” said Lauderdale.

Hill-Rom expects the transaction to close during the fiscal third quarter of 2019.