Global medical technology company acquires area firm for $180 million

SARASOTA — Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire mobile health care communications company Voalte Inc. for $180 million and up to an additional $15 million in payments related to potential commercial milestones.

According to a press release, the acquisition of Sarasota-based Voalte accelerates Hill-Rom's leadership in care communications and advances the company's digital and mobile communications platform and capabilities.  

Voalte was founded in 2008. The company serves more than 200 health care customers with more than 84,000 devices on its mobile platform, the statement adds. Annual revenue approaches $40 million.

Voalte's communications platform connects 220,000 caregivers and supports voice, alarm and text communications. The platform will be integrated with Hill-Rom's care communications business.

"This transaction strategically fits with our vision of advancing connected care to improve workflow and real-time actionable insights at the point of care, while driving accelerated growth and delivering an attractive margin profile," says Hill-Rom President and CEO John Groetelaars in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming and working closely with the talented Voalte team, and benefiting from Voalte's technology, capabilities and substantial installed customer base to enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers."

Hill-Rom expects the transaction to close during its fiscal third quarter.

"Our scalable enterprise communication platform is proving to be a critical tool in the digital transformation of health care systems, and we look forward to further developing our platform in alignment with Hill-Rom's vision of advancing connected care," says Voalte CEO Trey Lauderdale in a statement. "Bringing our companies together will allow us to offer customers a single, integrated solution — delivering actionable data from smart hospital beds, nurse call and patient monitoring technology right to a caregiver's mobile device."

Hill-Rom is a global medical technology company with more than 10,000 employees worldwide.