Kepro, a health management and technology solutions company with offices in Nashville, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire eQHealth Solutions, LLC.

“Facilitating care for priority populations is core to our work,” says Dr. Susan Weaver, president and chief executive officer. “The acquisition of eQHealth Solutions will enhance our ability to partner with government and commercial clients to improve health care quality, maximize efficiency and better leverage technology and analytics. I am excited about bringing the combined capabilities of Kepro and eQHealth to our clients.”

eQHealth Solutions has been improving health care quality and reducing costs through innovative technology, population health management solutions and medical management services since its inception. The company’s expansive offerings include eQSuite, a cloud-based, SaaS technology coupled with eQCare, a community-based services solution.

NationalBenefits to expand in Nashville

NationsBenefits, LLC., a leading supplemental benefits company, will build new distribution facilities in Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City with an additional member experience center in Nashville.

The decision to expand the company’s presence to Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Utah is the next step in the business’s growth strategy and commitment to serving national, regional, and local health plans and their members. Each new location is expected to be staffed and fully operational in Q4-2021.

NationsBenefits has experienced several months of significant momentum across all lines of business, and the expansion comes at a time when the company is implementing partnerships with numerous health plans in preparation for Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period that begins Oct. 15 and runs through December 7, 2021.

NationsBenefits is ramping up for Jan. 1, when it will begin fulfilling over-the-counter orders received from health plan members nationwide with two-day delivery. The company will also fulfill product orders and provide customer support for all benefit-related inquiries around the clock, 365 days per year, beginning in January. These innovations double down on NationsBenefits’ commitment to advancing consumerization in the health care industry.

LP distributes 50 scholarships

LP Building Solutions has awarded more than 50 college scholarships to the children of its employees for the 2021-22 academic year.

Headquartered in Nashville, LP is a manufacturer of high-performance building products. The LP Scholarship Program recognizes and rewards the accomplishments of employees’ children who excel in their studies and make positive contributions in their communities.

Recipients are awarded up to $6,000 for four years of full-time undergraduate study or until the student has completed their program, whichever comes first.

Heritage Group raises $20M for Equum

Equum Medical, a provider of acute care telehealth and teleICU solutions, has raised $20 million in growth equity from Nashville-based Heritage Group.

The funding will enable Equum Medical to further enhance its service model and broaden the reach of its experienced team of clinicians across the United States and beyond.

Equum Medical brings together an experienced team of clinicians with advanced, data-driven change management methodologies to provide high-touch telehealth services in a flexible, cost-effective manner.

By delivering a variety of acute care telehealth services, hospitals and health systems are able to access scarce clinical resources when and where they need them. Equum Medical helps fill ICU intensivist coverage gaps, eases emergency department capacity constraints, enhances transfer center dynamics and reduces leakage by adding physician engagement to the process, and improves the lifestyle of on-site clinicians.

CereCore earns Best Staffing award

CereCore, a health care IT services firm based in Nashville, has won the Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior IT staffing services to their clients and candidates.

This is the company’s second award from sponsors CareerBuilder and Indeed & Talent.com. ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Award winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality based entirely on ratings provided by their clients and candidates.

CereCore clients and placed job candidates were surveyed through ClearlyRated’s independent research team, and responses returned satisfaction scores that were significantly higher than the industry average.

Best of Staffing Client Award: 71.6% of clients responded with satisfaction scores of 9 or 10 out of 10. The industry average for such high satisfaction scores from clients is 38%.

Best of Staffing Talent Award: 72.1% of placed job candidates responded with satisfaction scores of 9 or 10 out of 10. The industry average for such high satisfaction scores from placed job candidates is 40%.

Enexor BioEnergy gets $10M investment

BorgWarner has announced it is investing in Enexor BioEnergy, LLC, a Franklin-based company that provides on-site, renewable energy and carbon conversion solutions to help solve the world’s organic waste and plastic waste problems.

Through a $10 million investment, BorgWarner has secured a minority stake in the company.

Enexor’s patented and modular Bio-CHP system uses locally sourced organics or plastic waste to generate clean on-site energy and can be rapidly deployed in nearly any setting. According to Enexor, each system can reduce up to 1,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually by reducing methane emissions released from landfills, offsetting fossil fuel-based power generation, and reducing waste disposal transportation emissions.

Harrow Health partners with Wakamoto

Nashville-based Harrow Health, Inc., an ophthalmic-focused health care company, entered into an agreement with Wakamoto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to acquire the U.S. and Canadian commercial rights for drug candidate MAQ-100, a preservative-free triamcinolone acetonide ophthalmic injection.

MAQ-100 is marketed and sold by Wakamoto in Japan as MaQaid. Following Japan’s Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare approval, MaQaid was launched in Japan in 2010, indicated as an intravitreal injection for visualization for vitrectomy.

Since its initial MHLW approval, the indication for MaQaid was expanded to include (a) treatments for alleviation of diabetic macular edema, (b) macular edema associated with retinal vein occlusion (or RVO), and (c) non-infectious uveitis.

Harrow intends to leverage the clinical data used for Japanese market approval of MaQaid, initially to support a clinical program and U.S. market NDA submission of MAQ-100 for visualization during vitrectomy.

Mark L. Baum, CEO of Harrow Health, says, “This transaction is an excellent strategic fit with our recent commitment to expand our footprint to include retina-focused surgeons and follows our recent announcement of the acquisition of AMP-100, a patented, innovative ocular surface anesthetic drug candidate.’’

G&A to offer Cigna health plan in TN

G&A Partners, a leading professional employer organization and human resources outsourcing provider, will offer Tennessee PEO clients a Cigna master health plan.

The G&A-sponsored plan includes 14 health-plan options, including traditional preferred provider organization plans, three high-deductible health plans and three plans in the affordable Local Plus network. Eligible employers with two or more participating employees can now offer their teams between three and five Cigna plan options at competitive composite rates.

“Our Tennessee worksite employees will now have a greater selection of affordable, accessible options for their health care plan and providers, which will be a boon for the local economy,” says Aubrey Livingston, regional sales director for G&A Partners in Nashville. “Healthy employees make healthy companies, and when you make it easier for people to find and afford the health care they need, the communities where you operate will thrive, too.”

Novatech purchases Milwaukee Xerox dealer

Nashville-based Novatech, a nationwide managed office provider and a core portfolio company of Trivest Partners, has announced its acquisition of Digital Office Solutions, a Xerox dealer in Milwaukee.

“Novatech continues to grow,” says Dan Cooper, CEO of Novatech. “Bob Webb has leveraged his 50+ years of industry experience at Xerox to build an incredible company and Xerox dealership in Wisconsin. Bob and his two co-founders Amy Arnold and Frank Caruso are truly second to none, and the company holds an exceptional reputation in the local market. We’re excited to join forces to bring enhanced solutions and services to the Wisconsin business community.”

The combined teams of Novatech and Digital Office Solutions bring an enhanced level of resources, speed, and agility for the Wisconsin market. The two companies will leverage decades of best practices.

New partnerships support HireRight

HireRight, a provider of global background screening services and workforce solutions based in Nashville, is partnering with major commercial laboratory partners, as well as a licensed physician provider network, to offer clinical blood testing services.

These partnerships enable HireRight to provide a solution that delivers faster, more effective, and more affordable blood testing services for occupational health.

These partnerships give HireRight direct access to the laboratories and their nationwide patient service centers for blood testing services, including titers for Hepatitis B, Varicella, MMR, and blood testing for Tuberculosis exposure. Partnering with these leading laboratories makes available a new network of close to 4,000 additional in-network clinics for candidates and clients.

“We are always looking for ways to better serve our valued customers, many of whom rely on our drug and health screening services to help keep their workplaces safe,” says Dr. Todd Simo, chief medical officer at HireRight.