AUSTIN, TX – Two vendors of financial software for healthcare providers are joining forces to help physician practices improve their revenue cycle process, from insurance verification to reimbursement monitoring.

Medical Present Value, Inc., an Austin, Texas-based provider of financial tools and services to manage payer contracts and audit reimbursement, has acquired TeraHealth, a Plymouth, Mass.-based provider of insurance and benefits verification software and services. Terms of the deal were not announced.

TeraHealth's products are designed to help physician groups improve the eligibility process by electronically gathering co-pay, benefits and deductible information in real-time. The company's EDI and MedeConnect help eliminate the need for manual verification of insurance eligibility.

"With the growth of consumerism and high deductible insurance plans, there is an increasing need among physician groups to verify eligibility and determine patient fees at the time of service," said Tom Stampiglia, MPV's CEO. "The TeraHealth team possesses an outstanding level of industry experience in patient eligibility and the acquisition of the company will allow us to combine MPV's leading payer contract management solution and patient payment calculator with a powerful eligibility and insurance verification solution."

TeraHealth's headquarters will remain in Plymouth, while the company's name will be changed to MPV. Company President and CEO John Donnelly will become general manager of MPV's eligibility product suite.

"By combining our complementary products, we will be able to enhance the value practices receive from our current solutions and create a comprehensive, integrated approach to improving revenue cycle efficiency - from eligibility checking at the beginning of a patient encounter to ensuring accurate reimbursement for all services rendered," Donnelly said.

Will this combined business help physician practices improve the insurance eligibility process? Send your comments to Managing Editor Eric Wicklund at eric.wicklund@medtechpublishing.com.