Henry Schein and Internet Brands are embarking on a joint venture to deliver integrated dental technology to help the profession improve practice management and marketing as well as patient communication.
Named Henry Schein One, the collaboration will include Henry Schein Practice Solutions products and services such as Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Easy Dental, and TechCentral, as well as Henry Schein’s international dental practice management systems, including Software of Excellence, Logiciel Julie, InfoMed, Exan, and LabNet.
Henry Schein One also will include Internet Brands’ dental businesses, included web-based solutions such as Demandforce, Sesame Communications, Officite, and DentalPlans.com. The teams dedicated to these businesses will become part of the joint venture, initially employing about 1,500 team members and headquartered in American Fork, Utah.
Henry Schein will have majority ownership and Internet Brands will own a minority interest. Senior management from Henry Schein and Internet Brands will serve on Henry Schein One’s board. The combined entity, which will serve markets globally, had pro-forma 2017 sales of approximately $400 million.
The joint venture expects to realize between $20 million and $30 million in annual synergies by the end of year three. The companies expect to complete the transaction in the second quarter of 2018, subject to certain pre-closing conditions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“With this agreement, we combine two dental technology leaders who together will create a powerful new engine to accelerate our customers’ growth,” said Stanley M. Bergman, chairman of the board and CEO of Henry Schein.
“We believe our customers will have the most extensive suite of integrated programs and services, operating on leading practice management systems, to enable dental professionals to be more efficient and to increase their ability to deliver high-quality care to patients,” Bergman said.
Henry Schein One will deliver advanced, cutting-edge technology to address the challenges created by the current lack of technology integration in dental practices, the companies said, adding that dental teams today use disparate technology systems that often don’t connect with each other and therefore waste time for the team and their patients.
Henry Schein One aims to raise the level of innovation and deliver a new platform of enhanced dental software and services that work together seamlessly to share data and streamline the digital workflow for each member of the dental team.
Having end-to-end management and marketing systems will enable dental teams to be better business managers, clinicians to be more efficient, and patients to be more loyal to the practice, the companies said. By helping the team work smarter and faster, they add, Henry Schein One will enable dentists to focus more on delivering quality care.
Integrating Henry Schein’s practice management software with Internet Brands’ web-based and mobile digital marketing and communications tools will give dental teams new tools connected to their practice management systems to better communicate with current and prospective patients, minimize appointment cancellations, improve adherence to treatment plans, and develop new sources of revenue, the companies said.
“By combining Henry Schein’s strength in practice management software with our leading digital marketing applications in this new joint venture, we intend to leverage the considerable resources of both companies to provide our customers and their patients with a better experience,” said Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands.
“We are only scratching the surface of what we can do together to improve how dental practices interact with patients in an age of digital communications,” Brisco said. “This joint venture will harness the power of the leading brands in this market for the benefit of everyone interested in delivering and experiencing better healthcare.”
James A. Harding, senior vice president and CEO of Henry Schein’s Global Practice Solutions Group, will serve as CEO of Henry Schein One. He also has served as Henry Schein’s chief technology officer. The rest of Henry Schein One’s management team will be announced later.
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