With McKesson’s acquisition of Per-Se Technologies, the network connectivity assets of both companies have been folded into a new business called RelayHealth. Per-Se added nearly 6,000 employees and a customer base that includes roughly 100,000 physicians in small practices, 17,000 hospital-affiliated physicians, 3,000 hospitals, and 50,000 retail and institutional pharmacies to expand McKesson’s physician-patient communications business.

“We see a great opportunity to use our web-based solutions and pharmacy and payer networks to make care delivery more interactive and better connected,” says Pamela Pure, president of McKesson Provider Technologies.

In the hospital, Per-Se’s revenue cycle outsourcing and network transaction business complement McKesson’s revenue cycle management, an area of increasing focus in the face of initiatives like consumer-directed healthcare and pricing transparency. With the combining of Per-Se and McKesson pharmacy networking services, more than 8.5 billion pharmacy transactions will be managed.

For retail and high-volume pharmacies, Per-Se also augments McKesson’s capabilities in retail and institutional pharmacy management systems. “McKesson has been highly focused on broadening its portfolio of offerings to pharmacists,” says Stanton McComb, president of McKesson Pharmacy Systems. “Per-Se brings a fully integrated suite of products to address the needs of the large independent, national chain, mail-order, and outpatient pharmacies,” he says.

In recent years McKesson has expanded its retail product line by introducing central-fill solutions that enable chain pharmacies to aggregate prescriptions from multiple locations and funnel them to a centrally located prescription fulfillment center. McKesson has also enhanced its HealthMart program, now the nation’s fastest-growing pharmacy franchise, and continues to expand its pharmacy systems and robotics offerings.

McKesson also completed the acquisition of Physician Micro Systems, a leading provider of integrated electronic health records, medical billing, and appointment scheduling for independent physician practices. The company’s Practice Partner system has more than 1,500 practices and approximately 6,000 physicians using it.