Telstra expands health division with major acquisition

This is the first stand-alone acquisition for Telstra's health portfolio.

Justin Loiseau

Justin Loiseau hails from the great united state of North Carolina, where he started his first business at the ripe age of five: melting crayons into candles. With the infamous Crayola Crash of 1994, Justin moved on to study economics and environmental studies as a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina. He has worked in a variety of sectors across the globe, from management consulting to the United Nations, and once spent three months examining invasive snails in Vietnam. Justin discovered The Motley Fool in 2012 and it’s been love ever since. Creativity, contrarianism, kerfuffling… what more could one want? When he’s not playing the Fool, you can find Justin at the University of Auckland, where he is pursuing a Masters in Economics as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Justin finds biogas digesters fascinating and can unicycle a mile in seven minutes.

Published August 28, 2013 1:32 pm AEST

Telstra (ASX: TLS) announced today that it is acquiring the Health Division of Database Consultants Australia (DCA), pushing ahead with plans to expand its new Health portfolio. DCA's division dominates the community care software market in Australia, providing services as varied as secure messaging to directory databases.

"Connectivity will play a crucial role in the future delivery and management of health services," said Telstra's Health Head Shane Solomon in a statement today. "The future of health care will see more patients cared for at home and technology will play a critical role."

Solomon considers Telstra's latest acquisition to be an "important foundation asset" for his new division. Telstra hopes to merge its communication assets with the health care sector to support at-home care, inter-health centre communication, and new avenues for confidential information sharing between all health care stakeholders.

This latest move is the first stand-alone acquisition for Telstra's health portfolio, but follows close on the heels of investments in IPHealth's electronic health records and Health Engine's health directory. Financial details of the transaction were not included in Telstra's press release.

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Motley Fool contributor Justin Loiseau has no position in any stocks mentioned in this article. You can follow him on Twitter @TMFJLo.

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