CIGNA, based in Philadelphia, has announced the acquisition of Great-West Healthcare, the Denver-based healthcare division of the Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, for $1.5 billion in cash and additional capital of $400 million.  

The Tri-Isthmus Group, Inc., a Los Angeles-based provider of financial solutions to the healthcare industry, has announced the signing of strategic agreements with PHNS, Inc., a Dallas-based company that provides IT and financial management solutions to hospitals and multi-facility healthcare systems, and Financial Resource Group, LLC, a Dallas-based healthcare consulting company.

The TriZetto Group, Inc. of Newport Beach, Calif. has been selected by the Triple-S Management Corp., a San Juan, Puerto Rico-based managed care health plan serving approximately 1 million members, to deploy the QNXT core administrative enterprise system, which is designed to support greater efficiency in payers' claim processing, claims re-pricing, premium billing, membership administration and customer service, among other core administrative options.

The Fifth Third Bank of Cincinnati has announced a strategic alliance with GHN–Online and Revenue Management Solutions, two Dallas-based providers of revenue cycle management services to the healthcare industry, to deliver a comprehensive claims processing and remittance solution for healthcare providers. The alliance will allow Fifth Third Bank to capture the entire data stream, from claims to payments, and integrate that data into a single, Web-based view of healthcare providers' accounts receivables.

BurgessGroup, an Alexandria, Va.-based Medicare-based data and IT solutions provider, has signed a three-year contract renewal with CalOptima, an Orange County, Calif.-based public agency created by the state's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. Under the renewed contract, CalOptima will continue to use the Burgess Reimbursement System, integrating solutions for Inpatient Hospital (DRG-based) and Home Health provider payments and adding BurgessGroup's automated BRS BatchPricer.

Innodata Isogen, Inc., a New Jersey-based provider of knowledge process outsourcing services, has secured an outsourcing agreement worth approximately $1 million to analyze and deliver healthcare data to a leading provider of medical information. Under terms of the deal, analysts from the company in Asia and the United States will analyze data provided by independent medical associations and create summaries that will be delivered to subscribers, primarily healthcare professionals, through the information provider's online platform.

Practice Fusion, based in San Francisco, and MTBC, of Somerset, N.J., have announced the integration of MTBC's revenue cycle and practice management products with Practice Fusion's free on-demand electronic medical record (EMR) system.

The SSI Group, Inc., of Mobile, Ala. has announced the opening of a satellite office in Nashville, Tenn., the fifth such office to be opened by the company, which manages revenue cycle management and claims processing for providers, payers and physicians.