McKesson to Buy British HIT Firm

McKesson Corp. will acquire British hospital software vendor System C Healthcare for about $141.5 million in U.S. dollars.


McKesson Corp. will acquire British hospital software vendor System C Healthcare for about $141.5 million in U.S. dollars.

System C serves about 40 hospitals in the National Health Service. Its Medway product line includes a core hospital and ambulatory clinical information system and multiple modules supporting emergency care, maternity, diabetic care, ambulance care, infection control, and data analytics, among other functions. The company also sells software to social services agencies.

A McKesson division in England presently operates the NHS human resources and payroll systems. With the NHS having abandoned its requirement that hospitals buy clinical software from selected vendors, McKesson is looking for expanded business in the United Kingdom.

McKesson in April 2010 announced it would modify its Paragon community hospital information system for use in the United Kingdom. Whether the Paragon initiative will move forward following the acquisition of System C is not yet clear.

--Joseph Goedert