Booz Allen Hamilton Acquires Genova Technologies To Boost Affordable Care Act, Healthcare Support

Booz Allen Hamilton has acquired the healthcare division of Genova Technologies for an undisclosed amount in a bid to nab more federal technology contracts around healthcare and the Affordable Care Act.

Genova Technologies is a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based IT services provider focused on the healthcare and defense industries. It specialties in project management, software development and IT consulting. Genova Technologies is expected to retain its defense and commercial businesses once the deal is finalized.

The acquisition gives Booz Allen Hamilton a leg up as it works to support current and future contracts with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the department overseeing the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

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Booz Allen Hamilton was particularly attracted to Genova Technologies for its strong reputation, experience working with CMS, presence in Baltimore and cultural fit, Susan Penfield, executive vice president and head of the company's health practice, said.

"It’s a very promising market for us so we're delighted to have someone with such a great [reputation] and great people on board," Penfield said.

Genova Technologies, Penfield said, is "very aligned with how we think about our business clients today" and where the company sees itself in the future. For example, Penfield said the Affordable Care Act is changing how CMS will process and pay for healthcare in the future.

"Certainly we're on a 10-year journey to get there, but there's going to be a lot of transformation in CMS," Penfield said.

The acquisition of Genova Technologies will help Booz Allen Hamilton provide those capabilities, she said.

Beyond CMS, Penfield said the acquisition will add capabilities in other areas of Booz Allen Hamilton's healthcare offerings, including with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health. The capabilities are "absolutely transferrable," she said, especially around the company's expertise in Electronic Health Record (EHR) data and clinical data.

While there will be benefits down the road, Penfield said the integration of the two companies is already underway and Booz Allen Hamilton will be able to benefit immediately from the acquisition. In particular, the benefits of the acquisition will be felt as Booz Allen Hamilton fulfills its recently awarded contract with the CMS Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design and Analysis (RMADA) program, Penfield said.

Booz Allen Hamilton has said it will continue acquisitive growth in engineering, commercial and international areas. The company said the Genova Technologies acquisition was just one example of this growth strategy.

PUBLISHED OCT. 21, 2014