Chattanooga-based TractManager serves one in four U.S. hospitals

Employees work in the Client Services devision of TractManager in downtown Chattanooga's Suntrust building.
Employees work in the Client Services devision of TractManager in downtown Chattanooga's Suntrust building.

With the emergence of Obamacare, hospitals are trying to operate more efficiently than ever.

For Buddy Bacon, that's where Chattanooga-based TractManager comes in.

"In this age of regulatory risk and compliance, the need for systems to help us all manage our contracts and data is very important," says the chief executive of the contract management company. "We help hospital customers operate more efficiently so they can utilize their money to invest in quality of care."

TractManager, with about 100 employees in Chattanooga, now services one of every four U.S. hospitals, Bacon says. The company centralizes, monitors and controls contract management, currently working with more than 6,000 health care facilities. Its aim is to enhance contractual obligations and compliance and streamline work flow.

The company, in Chattanooga for more than a decade, made a big move last year with the acquisition of a Dallas, Texas, business that provides hospitals with clinical and financial data to make technology or service decisions.

MD Buyline, which has about 70 employees and works with half of the nation's hospitals, offers the chance for TractManager to grow, Bacon says.

"We're excited about both businesses continuing to grow and the opportunity to bring other services to the market together," he says.

TractManager Chairman Donald A. Deieso says that all health care providers, especially its hospital clients, are being asked to optimize each dollar.

Deieso says company officials see the combination of TractManager and MD Buyline "as facilitating operational efficiency consistent with the highest standards of compliance and transparency."

Bacon says MD Buyline has a robust customer base and there's the opportunity for cross-selling.

"What they're doing on the vendor side working with the purchasing inside a hospital, we complement by management of the contract once a purchase is complete," he says. "This gives us a very broad picture."

photo David Paschall, COO of TractManager, located in downtown Chattanooga's Suntrust building stands in the company office.

The CEO says the acquisition is the first since the company was purchase by Arsenal Capital Partners, a New York private equity firm which announced a majority investment in the business in January 2013.

Since that deal, TractManager moved its headquarters to Chattanooga from New Jersey, though most of its operations already were located in the SunTrust Building downtown.

Bacon says TractManager's operations will stay in Chattanooga, while MD Buyline will continue in Dallas.

"The two will stand alone," he says.

TractManager has 105 employees in all, and Bacon expects that number to increase as business grows. He wouldn't discuss revenue figures, though he's looking at growth of about 15 percent annually.

Bacon says he's enthusiastic about Chattanooga.

"It's a wonderful place," he says. "Most of our employees are from Chattanooga and love the area, and it's easy to recruit to."

Bacon himself was recruited to TractManager and Chattanooga, joining the business in October 2013.

The 50-year-old executive was familiar with the Scenic City as he was born and raised in Nashville. In addition, his wife grew up in Chattanooga with her father a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Bacon says.

TractManager contacted him about the job, which he says compliments his background. Bacon was involved in selling eligibility and claims solutions in hospitals.

"I was intrigued by the opportunity," he says. "It offers a very valued-added product to hospitals."

One aspect of Chattanooga that TractManager officials like is EPB's high-speed Internet.

"Our solutions are maintained in the cloud so that helps out specifically in the response time," Bacon says.

Stephen McLean, a partner at Arsenal, says TractManager has "a sterling reputation as the most reliable, user-friendly, and easy-to-implement system of its type in the world, as evidenced by its unparalleled growth and high level of client satisfaction."

TractManager was founded in 2000 by Thomas A. Rizk.

This story first appeared in Edge magazine.

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