Nashville's SeniorMetrix sells to stealthy NaviHealth,
backed by Welsh Carson, Select Medical, Universal American

By VNC Staff updated 6:21 p.m.


Nashville's SeniorMetrix sells to stealthy NaviHealth,backed by Welsh Carson, Select Medical, Universal American | Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, Universal American, Select Medical, Rick Glanz, health IT, analytics, informatics, mergers and acquisitions, Brentwood Capital Advisors, M&A, investment, private equity, Tom Scully, Sean Traynor, David Caluori, Matthew Etheridge, Reg Warren, Navihealth, Brentwood Capital Partners,

Rick Glanz

Brentwood, Tennessee-based SeniorMetrix, provider of predictive modeling to optimize post-acute care of the frail elderly, has sold to NaviHealth, a recently created and not previously announced company here.

NaviHealth is led by executives previously with Healthways and CVSCaremark, among others; and, is backed by the Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe private-equity firm, Select Medical and Universal American. Navihealth, with Healthways, CVS and many other actors, seem to be congregating around a shared sector.

SeniorMetrix in 2010 appointed investment bankers Nashville-based Brentwood Capital Advisors (BCA) to advise on a sale process approved by its board and CEO Rick Glanz, who in 1999 led a management-led buyout of business from Novacare. The transaction was announced in a BCA network mailing, today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tom Scully

SeniorMetrix annual revenue in 2010 was roughly $5MM, according to some earlier reports. Pre-Recession projections had been more bullish, of course. For a fuller rundown on the firm, please see VNC's earlier report.

SeniorMetrix's management team, including Glanz and Reg Warren, its chief scientific officer, will continue in leadership roles with NaviHealth; those leadership roles were not defined in BCA's mailing this afternoon.

Neither Glanz nor BCA has yet provided comment in response to VNC queries for this story.

NaviHealth's board includes, as chairman, Tom Scully, a general partner in Welsh Carson; Sean Traynor, a general partner in Welsh Carson; Stephen Guillard, most recently EVP and a director of HCR/ManorCare; Thomas Buckingham, EVP for strategy within Select Medical's LTAC business; Gary Jacobs, SVP corporate development, Universal American; David Caluori, a Welsh Carson VP; and, Matthew Etheridge, a private investor, former managing director of Perry Capital and a former investment analyst with Stanford University- linked Stanford Management Company.

Glanz said in today's mailing, in part, "This transaction is a strong validation of the post-acute care management tools and systems that our team has developed, and we are enthusiastic about the opportunity provided by NaviHealth's comprehensive and unique platform."

Glanz also said BCA was instrumental in "structuring, negotiating and closing a transaction that met and exceeded the needs of our shareholders - for liquidity and for strategic opportunity going forward."

Glanz did not elaborate on those "strategic" opportunities, but analytics are generally regarded as a hot spot in an era of federal mandates for improved health outcomes, reduced reimbursement, shared risk and meaningful use of technologies, among other factors.

BCA SVP and Partner Jack Harrington was quoted in the mailing as saying, in part, "This transaction pairs SeniorMetrix with the leading platform for addressing the post-acute opportunity, with valuable ancillary tools and services, and with the industry's leading strategic and financial partners supporting NaviHealth."

Welsh Carson, according to today's release, focuses investments only on information/business services and on healthcare; in its history, it has organized 15 limited partnerships with total capital of $20 billion. VNC