ePLDT buys US-based medical transcription firm

ePLDT Inc., the information technology arm of telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), has acquired 100 percent of Virginia-based medical transcription company CyMed for $35 million.

The acquisition was made possible through SPI Technologies Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ePLDT engaged in business process outsourcing (BPo).

The acquisition immediately positions SPI as the world’s third largest company in the outsourced medical transcription industry.

CyMed currently provides medical transcription services to more than 400 healthcare systems, independent hospitals and government-affiliated clinics across the US.

It has been recognized by numerous industry and community associations for superior business operations and profitable growth. Last year, CyMed reported a net income of $0.824 million on revenues of $19.6 million.

ePLDT president and chief executive officer Ray C. Espinosa said the fold-in of CyMed into SPI will accelerate SPI’s path to profitability and better leverage its fixed costs across more customers.

Espinosa said the acquisition will strengthen the group’s participation in the growing medical transcription industry which analysts forecast to grow 16 percent annually from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion in 2008.

SPI president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu, for his part, said the CyMed acquisition "makes us fairly unique in the marketplace with a balanced and deep pool of talent across our centers of excellence in the US, Philippines, and India."

"CyMed’s significant US presence will further strengthen our ability to deliver high quality, high volume transcription services round the clock, around the globe," Cu added.

CyMed president and chief executive officer Robert Lynch said he is equally pleased with the business combination. "We have worked with SPI before and their focus on quality and customer service is truly impressive. They can deliver constantly on turn around time and quality regardless of location. We are very comfortable with this sale because we know that our customers will continue to receive the high level of service that they expect."

Dave Woodrow, president and chief operating officer of SPI’s healthcare division, will lead the combined SPI-CyMed group.