IT Support for Healthcare Mergers & Acquisitions in Australia

Industry

Healthcare

Challenge

Pulse Health (ASX:PHG), a leading healthcare provider with an assertive acquisition strategy needed a robust, scalable IT solution to rapidly assess, price, and integrate new facilities during mergers and acquisitions. The client required a standardised approach to determine both capital and operational IT costs, support rapid transitions, and ensure uninterrupted patient care across a growing portfolio.

Results

Pulse Health completed successfully completed 5 acquisitions within a 14 month period. A common application set was securely available within each acquired organisation from Day 1, with the IT costs of onboarding and operation known, understood and available for use within the acquisition evaluation and due diligence stages.

Key Product

Secure Network Connectivity, Technology Consulting, Network Design, Citrix Application Delivery

pulsehealth.net.au

Sites Acquired

Zero

Budget Overruns

95%

Day 1 Service Availability

Zero

IT Transition Delays

Microsolve’s expertise gave us a clear, repeatable model for IT integration. We gained control over acquisition costs and could scale with confidence. Every transition was seamless-no downtime, no surprises. Their support has been invaluable to our growth.

Peter Mangles

Managing Director @ Pulse Health

About your Customer

Pulse Health is an ASX listed healthcare organisation with 290 staff, dedicated to delivering quality patient care.

With substantial investment capital but limited physical assets, Pulse Health are pursuing an aggressive strategy to acquire private hospitals and clinics, requiring tailored IT systems to manage costs and support rapid expansion.

** Pulse Health Group was acquired by HealthE Care in 2017 **

The Challenge

Despite their financial strength and clinical expertise, Pulse Health faced significant IT hurdles in their M&A program:

Complex Costing: No standard process to estimate IT migration and operational costs for each acquisition, making budgeting and decision-making slow and uncertain.
Integration Risk: Each facility had unique systems, creating risk of downtime, data loss, and operational disruption during transitions.
Scalability: The client needed to assess and integrate facilities of varying size (from <50 to >150 beds) quickly, without compromising care or compliance.
Resource Strain: Internal teams lacked the specialised IT skills and experience required to deliver rapid, risk-managed integrations at scale.

The Solution

Leveraging Microsolve’s 30+ years of IT experience in Australia and deep partnerships with Microsoft, AWS, and Cisco, the project team delivered a comprehensive, repeatable M&A IT integration model.

Technical Components → Implementation Process → Tangible Benefit

Standardised Costing Model:
Developed a scalable formula incorporating facility size (beds, theatres, staff), site complexity, required functionality, and asset lifecycle.
Implementation: Model validated against real-world data, tested with multiple acquisition scenarios.
Benefit: Enabled rapid, accurate pricing of IT migration and ongoing costs, supporting confident, data-driven acquisition decisions.
Repeatable Transition Methodology:
Designed a process covering data transfer, core application migration, and asset reconfiguration/replacement.
Implementation: Applied to each acquisition, ensuring all capital and operational costs were identified upfront.
Benefit: Eliminated surprises, ensured all IT transitions were delivered on time and within budget, with no disruption to patient care.
Flexible, Secure Architecture:
Deployed Microsoft Windows Servers, VMware Hypervisor, Citrix Application Delivery, AWS cloud services, and Cisco security/networking.
Implementation: Infrastructure designed for rapid scalability, high reliability, and robust data security.
Benefit: Supported seamless integration of new facilities, protected sensitive health data, and enabled flexible capacity adjustments as needed.
Comprehensive IT & Risk Management Advisory:
Provided ongoing business, IT, and risk management support to the client’s M&A team.
Implementation: Close collaboration throughout each acquisition, with clear communication of IT risks, costs, and timelines.
Benefit: Built client confidence, accelerated decision-making, and ensured alignment between IT and business strategy.

Results and Benefits

Microsolve’s approach delivered measurable outcomes:

Faster, Informed Decisions: The client could assess IT costs and risks for each target facility within days, not weeks, enabling agile responses to acquisition opportunities.
Zero Operational Downtime: All IT transitions were completed seamlessly, with no negative impact on patient care or business operations.
Cost Control: The standardised model provided transparency and predictability, eliminating budget overruns and supporting long-term financial planning.
Scalability: The client added 450 beds across 5 facilities in just 14 months, with IT systems ready to support ongoing growth.
Strategic Flexibility: Ready-made IT budgets for each facility allowed the client to adjust capacity and staffing with confidence, supporting both expansion and efficiency.

Microsolve’s proven M&A IT integration model empowered Pulse Health to overcome complex technical and operational challenges, delivering rapid, risk-managed growth in the competitive regional healthcare market.

By combining deep industry expertise, best-in-class technology, and a focus on repeatable, business-driven outcomes, Microsolve demonstrated why it is a trusted partner for IT support in the Australian healthcare sector.

“Assisting our client to convey crucial information during mergers and acquisitions has been a source of immense pride. Our expertise enabled them to scale up or down as required, facilitating strategic decision-making and delivering tangible value.”

Martin Struzka
Project Lead @ Microsolve