Henry Schein acquires majority interest in Unitas PPO solutions

Oct 26, 2023

January 5, 2023 By Sean Whooley

Henry Schein (Nasdaq:HSIC) announced today that its eAssist Dental Solutions subsidiary acquired a majority interest in Unitas PPO Solutions.

Privately-held Unitas works with dental practices to assess their commercial insurance participation. It sets competitive fee-for-service rates and negotiates contracted reimbursement with commercial insurers.

Melville, New York-based Henry Schein said in a news release that the companies formed a strategic relationship in 2014. Their long-standing relationship led to the addition of Unitas.

Henry Schein said the combination offers a "variety of service plans tailored to the specific needs of a dental practice."

"The addition of Unitas will help dental practice teams improve their critical insurance and billing functions and allow more focused attention on delivering high-quality patient care," said Stanley M. Bergman, chair of the board and CEO of Henry Schein. "Combining Unitas with our existing eAssist business is an excellent strategic fit within our portfolio of services for dental practices, and makes Henry Schein the one-stop-shop for all dental insurance reimbursement, revenue cycle, and dental billing service needs. We welcome our new colleagues from Unitas to Team Schein."

Mesa, Arizona-based Unitas brought in sales of approximately $5 million in 2021.

In addition, Henry Schein expects the transaction to be neutral to its 2022 diluted earnings per share and accretive thereafter. The company declined to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Mike Adler founded Unitas in 2010 with an aim of helping dental practices negotiate PPO rates and optimize PPO participation. Henry Schein said it intends for Adler to continue managing the Unitas business as CEO. The current Unitas management team remains on board, too.

The company offers expertise in analyzing claims and fee data. Henry Schein expects this to improve its fee analysis services.

"Dental practices must ensure they are being paid appropriate rates for the services they perform to mitigate rising costs," said Alder. "Unitas brings multiple advantages to our customers, including our established relationships with payer-provider relations and contracting teams. We look forward to continuing our rapid growth as we expand our reach through the industry leadership of Henry Schein and eAssist."

Henry Schein acquired a majority interest in eAssist in June 2021. eAssist provides a platform of outsourced revenue cycle services to the dental industry.

The company said adding Unitas complements the revenue cycle offering. It enhances the collection processes of the eAssist platform, Henry Schein said. This allows dental practices to simplify operations and reduce stress-related to cash flow.

Unitas and eAssist together bring "new opportunities to help customers" deliver outcomes and enable a better patient experience.

"By addressing the important topic of reimbursement, each organization will continue to focus on what they do best," said Dr. James Anderson, CEO of eAssist Dental Solutions. "Unitas will further our collective missions to offer best-of-breed products and services to help dental practices operate more efficiently and profitably while freeing up resources to allow the dental office team to focus on patient care and clinical outcomes."

Filed Under: Business/Financial News, Dental, Mergers & Acquisitions Tagged With: Henry Schein, Unitas