I am excited to announce that my employer, Passport Health Communications, Inc., has acquired Nebo Systems, Inc. Nebo is a long-time competitor of Passport, with many similar products. Nebo is based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, and caters primarily to clients in Illinois. The brevity of this post will prevent me from giving Nebo the props they deserve (read the full press release if you want more details), so I have included a couple of pieces from the Nebo website:
Established in 1989, Nebo Systems, Inc. specializes in real-time online processing of administrative EDI, HIPAA compliant transactions, for healthcare providers. With more than 2,500 healthcare facilities nationwide, we provide data management software and services that enable healthcare professionals to automate and integrate workflow processes. eCare®, Nebo’s innovative suite of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solutions, generates tangible operational efficiencies and drives-down administrative costs.
Each month Nebo processes nearly 20 million healthcare transactions helping providers collect reimbursements faster and enhance their cash flow. Nebo is an innovative, growing organization that offers tailored EDI solutions and services to healthcare professionals across the United States.
This is hardly one company gobbling up a competitor. Indeed, Passport and Nebo both stand to gain much from the combined products and expertise of the two companies. After having spent some time last week with the folks at Nebo, I have learned that Nebo's products are first class and the people are everything I could have expected. Fortunately, people on both sides of the deal seem very excited about our possibilities together. I was glad to find that there are several areas where Passport will learn much from Nebo - as we learn more about the products, we will likely uncover more areas where this is true. In addition, Nebo has developed products in areas where Passport has yet to trod. The [I hate to use this term] synergies between the two companies should result in a very strong product line.
I am personally excited about this acquisition for several reasons. Without going into any details that Passport and Nebo would scorn me for, here are some of the afore mentioned reasons:
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Passport has always been fortunate to have a very low turnover rate of personnel across the company. Very low. This really is a great problem to have. However, it somewhat limits our ability to absorb new ideas from new employees. Don't get me wrong, we are growing, and we have lots of growth ahead of us, but when roles and positions are filled with non-Passportians, there is increased opportunity that the new employees come in with different perspectives on how to get the job done. New perspective - new ideas - new approach to solving problems - better solutions. My visit this week reinforced this idea.
The acquisition of Nebo means LOTS of new people and ideas. Fresh new products. Even better, they have products that compete head-to-head with Passport's in the marketplace. They have crawled through the same ditches and stood on the same mountain peaks as Passport - the relationship should be very fruitful for both companies. Assuming my potentially naive hopes ever materialize, we will have lots more people solving the hard problems we face every day. Bring it.
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I am a part of the transition team, a group of people recruited specifically to help the two companies as much as possible during the initial merging process. I met with many of the Nebo employees this week, and they are a very talented group of people. It is a great opportunity to be a part of an important step in the life of Passport and Nebo.
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I love Passport for lots of reasons. Among them: 1) Our development group is a great place to develop software. Everyone is Smart & Gets Things Done - we work hard, have lots of fun, and solve some of the biggest hardware and hardest software problems in the area. 2) Middle-Tennessee is great place to live. 3) Passport's products continue to set the bar in the healthcare industry. My hope is that Passport and Nebo will be even stronger together.
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I have a nearly pathological attraction to change. No can explain. I am excited about the unknown, the change, and the idea that the both companies will likely be a little different than before - better.
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