Lehi's Career Step buys two divisions of Minnesota healthcare training firm

Online education and training provider Career Step of Lehi has acquired the Revenue Capture and Coding and Documentation divisions of Panacea Healthcare Solutions, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. The move gives Career Step the ability to provide end-to-end education, consulting and data analytics solutions to the revenue cycle and healthcare financial marketplaces, the company said in a statement. About 25 Panacea employees will join Career Step.

“At Career Step, our focus is on improving lives and business results through education,” said Steve Tober, Career Step president and CEO. “With the acquisition of Panacea and the combination of our complementary product and service offerings, we will now be able to drive better results for healthcare organizations by tying the information available through their consultants and data analytics to the education we offer. We have been working closely with Panacea for the past two years and we have proven through our joint efforts that our combined offerings can meet an important market need.”

Career Step, a portfolio company of Denver-based equity firm Revelstoke Capital partners, was founded in Lehi in 1992 and has trained over 100,000 students for new careers. It has more than 150 partnerships with colleges and universities nationwide, offers a variety of continuing education courses for healthcare professionals and has educated more than 8,000 health information professionals through its Professional Training Division.

Founded in 2007, Panacea has offices in New Jersey and Florida in addition to its St. Paul headquarters.

“The Panacea team is excited to join Career Step,” said Frederick Stodolak, Panacea CEO at the time of the acquisition. “Both companies have worked successfully together for years, and we look forward to integrating our combined talent and technology to offer our clients a more synergistic and comprehensive offering. The combined business model is unique in that we provide learning solutions at the onset of individuals’ careers as well as integrated educational, consulting and technology services to support them throughout their career lifetime.”

“The combination of Career Step’s programs and Panacea’s consulting services and data analytics software will enable us to identify opportunities for revenue improvement by capturing lost charges and under-billed services and then improving pricing models based on actual costs, said Mike Hodgson, Career Step Professional Training Division executive vice president. “The information we gather for clients through consulting and software services will help us identify areas for education that will facilitate long-term staff performance improvement.”

Career Step will run the Panacea Healthcare Solution business as an independent brand and entity within the Career Step Professional Training Division. As part of the transaction, Stodolak and others on the current Panacea management team will continue as shareholders. The transaction closed Feb. 1.