Lincare Offloads Specialty Pharmacy Biz for $75 Million

It’s been a busy few months for respiratory therapy giant Lincare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LNCR).

The Clearwater, Florida-based subsidiary of German gases, engineering and health care company The Linde Group acquired home care company American HomePatient from Highland Capital Management in late 2015. Then, in early 2016, Lincare was ordered to pay $238,900 in civil monetary penalties for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Now, Lincare is set to sell its speciality pharmacy business to Charlotte, North Carolina-based health care improvement company Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) for $75 million. The pharmacy business, which generated about $206 million in 2015 revenue, was not core to Lincare, which has about 1,000 locations with about 13,000 employees in 48 U.S. states and Canada.

The transaction, which is expected to close on or before Sept. 30, 2016, includes Acro Pharmaceutical Services, which operates in all 50 U.S. states, and Community Pharmacy Services, which serves a 340B drug program in the Philadelphia region. The companies are set to be integrated into Premier’s current specialty pharmacy business as part of Premier’s supply chain services segment.

The acquisition will expand and diversify Premier’s special pharmacy patient base and disease treatments, Durral R. Gilbert, president of Premier’s supply chain services segment, said in a prepared statement.

“Premier is continuing to differentiate itself as we expand and integrate our specialty pharmacy services, providing more scale for our health system focused model,” added Premier President and CEO Susan DeVore. “This comprehensive shared service approach enhances a health system’s ability to thrive in today’s alternative payment and care delivery environment. It decreases the growing challenges of specialty drug access and costs, and lessens the complexity of administering and caring for chronically ill patients.”

At present, Premier has an alliance of about 3,600 U.S. hospitals and 120,000 other providers.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson