Birmingham, Alabama-based DirectPath, a health benefits advisory firm, announced that it has acquired Milwaukee-based health care advocacy and transparency company Patient Care.
Patient Care was founded by Jane Cooper, its president and CEO, in New Orleans in 2001. She moved the company to Milwaukee following Hurricane Katrina. The company now has 70 employees at its office in downtown Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee office, located at 633 W. Wisconsin Ave., will remain open and will likely grow under DirectPath’s ownership, Cooper told BizTimes.
“Great news for Milwaukee and the business,” she said. “Our office is staying. All of the employees are staying. There should be some very significant growth of people in the Milwaukee office, some real opportunity for the company and the staff to expand on a national basis in a way we couldn’t have done by ourselves.”
Patient Care helps more than 1.6 million employee members navigate the health care system. All of the company’s products and services will remain
DirectPath said the acquisition of Patient Care will expand its services.
“Once a health plan has been selected, employees still need guidance on making the most cost-efficient care decisions. For more than 15 years, Patient Care has performed this invaluable service, helping employees become informed health care consumers,” Michael Byers, executive chairman of DirectPath, said in a news release. “Patient Care’s leading advocacy and transparency services are a natural complement to our active engagement services, allowing us to help employers and their employees control costs every step of the way, from the plan they enroll in to treatment choices. With this acquisition, DirectPath’s breadth and depth of service offerings is now unmatched in the industry.”
Patient Care and DirectPath are working on a co-branding and re-branding plan, Cooper said. The Patient Care name will evolve over time, she said.
“Patient Care shares a common mission with DirectPath: to reduce health care costs for both employers and employees. By joining forces with DirectPath, we are better able to make this mission a reality and scale our services to benefit far more companies and their employees,” Cooper said in a news release. “We’re thrilled to be part of the DirectPath family, and I look forward to working hand-in-hand with other members of the talented DirectPath team.”
