With this result, CompuGroup Medical AG continues its strategy and growth based on the greatest coverage among healthcare providers (physicians, dentists, hospitals etc.) worldwide. Again, it is the strong performance of the HPS (Health Provider Services) business segment that drives the business forward. In this segment, revenue was EUR 59.8 million compared to EUR 53.2 million in the third quarter of 2009. The high margin Ambulatory Information Systems (AIS) business continues to grow strongly at 19 percent of which 14 percent is organic growth at constant exchange rates.
CompuGroup Medical made further progress during the reporting period to develop its business in the US. In August, CompuGroup Medical entered into an agreement for the purchase of 100% of the shares in Visionary Healthware Group. Visionary Healthware serves an impressive customer base that spans the United States, covering healthcare organizations, physicians' offices and laboratories. The company was ranked #71 in the 2009 Healthcare Informatics Top 100 Healthcare Information Technology Companies list and has 200 employees.
This acquisition comes at a particularly exciting time in USA with the Healthcare Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) providing almost $20 billion to healthcare information technology aimed at Visionary's customer group. With 10,000 closely served doctors and a total network of doctors estimated at up to 60,000 (including the LIS, managed care consulting and RCM business), there are significant and untapped cross-selling opportunities in Visionary Healthware Group based on the HITECH stimulus.
Frank Gotthardt, Chairman of the Board of CompuGroup Medical AG, stated: "With Visionary and Noteworthy combined, we now serve 15,000 doctors in the US, and we are excited about the prospects of helping these doctors achieve meaningful use under the HITECH act and also to be part of the transformation of US healthcare based on electronic health records. With this infrastructure in place, the introduction of CompuGroup Medical's solutions for Software Assisted Medicine can begin also in the largest healthcare economy in the world, namely the United States."
While forcefully moving into the US market, CompuGroup Medical continues to develop its business relationship with the health insurance funds in Germany. With the contracts signed during the third quarter CompuGroup Medical now covers a population of almost 10 million with the product "smart-Xchange", a system to safely and systematically improve measures to drive higher levels of drug substitution to save care costs without sacrificing care quality.
CompuGroup Medical adjusts the revenue outlook for the full year 2010 to be in the range of EUR 315 million to EUR 330 million, including revenue from Visionary Healthware. Operating income (EBITDA) is expected to be in the range of EUR 67 million to EUR 73 million which represents no change from previous guidance.