HCA Healthcare
February 14, 2020

*NOT FOR EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION*

SOURCE: Nashville Business Journal
AUTHOR: Joel Stinnett

Scorecard checks back on our headlines from a year ago. This is an update to the Sept. 18, 2018, story, "Startup backed by HCA, Martin Ventures bought by Texas company."

Then:Nashville-based health-tech startup Lucro, which aims to connect hospital companies with the businesses trying to sell them products, was purchased by Frisco, Texas-based health care cost-management company Valify. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Launched in 2015, Lucro offers a marketplace for health systems to evaluate, compare and select health care product and service vendors. The company’s platform has caught the attention of Nashville-based HCA Healthcare Inc., the country’s largest for-profit hospital chain, which led a $2.5 million investment round into Lucro in 2016. Nashville-based investment firm Heritage Group and original backer Martin Ventures were also investors.

Now: In January, Lucro made a bit of a homecoming when HCA bought Valify. Terms of that deal were not disclosed. Valify provides health systems a suite of tools aimed at reducing costs through in-depth analysis, benchmark comparisons and advisory services. The company has 25 employees and is one of the Dallas-area’s fastest growing companies, according to the Dallas Business Journal, a sister publication of the Nashville Business Journal. Martin Ventures was also an investor in Valify.

Next: In a news release, HCA Chief Financial Officer Bill Rutherford said HCA will work with the Valify team to “further develop their offerings.”

“Valify’s advanced analytical platform will help us identify and pursue opportunities to decrease the overall cost to provide health care services,” Rutherford said in the release.