MedQuist to Acquire Spheris

HDM Breaking News, February 4, 2010

Outsourced medical transcription vendor MedQuist Inc. Mt. Laurel, N.J., will acquire the domestic business of rival Spheris Inc., while CBay Inc., MedQuist's owner, will buy Spheris' India operations.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Franklin, Tenn.-based Spheris has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The process will include a court-supervised auction to solicit competitive bids from other entities. If the MedQuist/CBay offers are approved, the companies expect to close the acquisitions in the first half of 2010.

Both transcription firms offer comprehensive information technology platforms for their clients in addition to outsourced transcription services. The platforms include document management, workflow management, reporting, data analytics, computer-assisted coding and abstraction, and speech recognition applications.

Spheris' bankruptcy petition is available at gardencitygroup.com/cases/spheris.

--Joseph Goedert

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