New Name, Buy for Dairyland

HDM Breaking News, September 15, 2008

Community hospital information systems vendor Dairyland Healthcare Solutions has changed its name to Healthland and made an acquisition.

The Glenwood, Minn.-based company has purchased Advanced Professional Software Inc. of Waco, Texas, for an undisclosed sum. APS sells financial/administrative systems for community hospitals and has 140 clients. APS also resold a clinical system under a partnership with an undisclosed vendor. Healthland will support APS systems already being used, but will market its clinical system to APS' clients.

The acquisition gives Healthland new market share--particularly in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia--and additional expertise, says James Burgess, CEO. Before the acquisition of APS, Healthland served about 350 hospitals in 41 states. With the buy, Healthland now is the largest vendor of community hospital information systems, with 23% market share, he contends.

Healthland changed its name because, "frankly, there were some distractions" with the Dairyland moniker, Burgess says. Outside Middle America, the name "did not bring visions of health I.T. technology and software," he adds. "It really was limiting our ability to market outside the Midwest. We had market research that customers in California and N.J. would cross the name off their list."

The old name also was hindering the company's efforts to market in other industry segments such as specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, mental health centers and correctional medical facilities. Market research found that "Dairyland's name was well-recognized, but the brand wasn't," Burgess adds.

More information is available at healthland.com.

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