TAMPA, Fla. (January 9, 2020)—Osceola Capital, a lower middle-market private equity firm focused on services businesses, announced today the acquisition of Healthcents, Inc. (Healthcents), a provider of medical reimbursement and related services.

Founded in 1994, Healthcents consults small and medium health care providers across the United States on payer portfolio and growth strategies by strengthening or entirely outsourcing traditional managed care departments. “Healthcents has successfully positioned itself as a leader in the highly complex payer contracting space over the course of its 25-year existence,” said Ben Moe, managing partner at Osceola Capital. “We are extremely pleased with this opportunity to enter the health care space and look forward to working with the leadership team to expand the customer base and continue building upon the company’s strong foundation.”

Erik Sewell, vice president at Osceola Capital, added, “Small and medium health care providers are a massively underserved segment, particularly from a payer contracting standpoint. Healthcents helps providers optimize their contracting strategy, a vital element of the provider’s business model and ability to generate revenue. We see major potential to expand the service offering in this market.”

Armando Cardoso will serve as CEO of the Austin, Texas based company. Cardoso has previously advised and led health care teams across investment banking, private equity, health care providers, health care insurance companies and health care vendors. Most recently, he led a national team at Ascension, one of the largest health systems in the country.

“I’m thrilled to join Healthcents because we can make best-practices accessible—they don’t need to be reserved for only the largest or best-funded industry stakeholders,” said Cardoso. “Hiring skilled, fulltime managed care contracting talent is simply out-of-reach for most. Healthcents offers a valuable alternative to small and medium health care providers who need to strengthen and maintain their payer relationships. I look forward to growing our service offerings and team nationally.”

Healthcents represents the fifth platform within Osceola Capital’s current fund. Senior debt financing was provided by Acorn Street Capital. DLA Piper acted as legal counsel to Osceola Capital.

Visit osceola.com and healthcents.com for more information.