A subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc., the United States' largest insurer, bought Executive Health Resources, confirming nearly a week of speculation.

UnitedHealth's Ingenix, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based health information technology services and consulting group that works with nearly 6,000 hospitals, said Wednesday morning it was purchasing the Newtown Square, Pa.-based Medicare compliance company.

Executive Health Resource's current owner is Abry Partners, a Boston, Mass.-based private equity firm.

Terms of the deal were not announced, but the transaction is reported to be worth $1.5 billion, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report that broke the rumors of the purchase last week.

When contacted by DOTmed News, Ingenix would not comment on the deal's price tag.

Thirteen-year-old Executive Health Resources provides what they call Physician Advisor teams to hospitals to help them pass Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' medical necessity compliance reviews, as required by law. The company works with around 1,100 hospitals and health systems nationwide, it said.

"The expertise and evidence-based clinical insights that Executive Health Resources and its outstanding team provide, combined with Ingenix's unmatched health information and analytics capabilities, will help our clients thrive in the evolving regulatory environment for health care," Ingenix's CEO Andy Slavitt said in a statement.

Executive Health Resource's focus on medical necessity compliance will complement Ingenix's other compliance services, such as helping hospitals transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes, Karin Olson, an Ingenix spokeswoman, said.

“We’re now so excited to be working with the leader in that space,” Olson told DOTmed News.

In July, Ingenix inked a deal to acquire Picis, an information solutions provider focusing on emergency rooms, operating rooms, ICUs and other high-acuity areas.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to close before the end of the year.

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