This week two major acquisitions have occurred which will forever change the healthcare simulation industry: International renowned Laerdal Medical acquired audiovisual systems company B-Line Medical, and globally operating 3B Scientific acquired auscultation manikin manufacturer Cardionics. Today we share these major press announcements which are crucial to understand.
Laerdal Medical Acquires B-Line Medical
Laerdal Medical, one of the global leaders in medical simulation, skills training, and resuscitation and B-Line Medical, a global leader in simulation debriefing, assessment, and management, are excited to announce Laerdal Medical’s acquisition of B-Line Medical. Building on an initial partnership signed in the fall of 2018, this acquisition will accelerate and expand the integration and scope of their product lines.
With the acquisition, B-Line Medical will become part of the global Laerdal organization – while maintaining its home and continuing to develop and support their product lines in Washington, D.C. Laerdal and B-Line Medical begin work immediately on their shared vision to create the world’s premier debriefing, assessment, and training management platform. The platform will play a major role in Laerdal’s core mission of helping save lives by delivering the highest quality healthcare training, education and quality improvement programs to their customers.
While this acquisition will yield the most integrated simulator, services, and center management platform on the market, Laerdal Medical understands the importance of serving mixed simulation environments where collaboration and integration with other simulation vendors are required. Laerdal Medical’s LLEAP unification software and B-Line Medical SimCapture’s open simulator integration will continue to make this possible.
“Laerdal Medical realized through our recent partnership with B-Line Medical that a key to our future vision was to manage all education and training data from the initial simulated event to the concluding assessment.” says COO of Laerdal Medical, Alf-Christian Dybdahl. “By acquiring B-Line Medical’s expertise in cloud-based debriefing, data management, and analysis along with their broadly adopted simulation management solution, SimCapture, we can accelerate the delivery of a universal healthcare simulation management platform.”
“Laerdal has been the leader in healthcare simulation since B-Line Medical entered the market in 2005. It was an honor to partner with them in 2018 and the rapid success of that partnership quickly lead to a discussion about an acquisition.” says Co-Founder and CEO of B-Line Medical, Chafic Kazoun. “The opportunity to immediately and significantly expand the reach and capability of the SimCapture portfolio being part of Laerdal, is very exciting. We look forward to accelerating the delivery of an enhanced version of our cloud-based simulation education and training management platform thanks to this acquisition.”
For more than 50 years, healthcare providers and educators have trusted Laerdal to offer products, services, and solutions that help improve patient outcomes and survivability. By supporting the advancement of resuscitation science, improving medical education and strengthening the chain of survival in communities worldwide, Laerdal desires to help you save more lives.
Founded in 2005, B-Line Medical is exclusively dedicated to offering solutions that help healthcare professionals and educators improve the delivery of healthcare and enhance quality of care. Focused on the capture, debriefing, and assessment of healthcare training and clinical events, B-Line Medical’s robust, yet easy-to-use web-based solutions are in use at over 500 institutions in 35 countries. Read the full press release here. *Update* The B-Line team has reached out to share that there will be no changes to support services and that B-Line Medical will still maintain its brand, service contracts and leadership from their Washington D.C. offices!
3B Scientific Acquires Cardionics
3B Scientific, a portfolio company of JH Whitney Capital Partners and a leading manufacturer and marketer of anatomical and biological education and simulation products for science, healthcare and patient education announced the acquisition of Excellus Technologies, Inc. dba Cardionics, a leader in Auscultation Simulation products.
“Cardionics is a perfect addition to 3B Scientific’s line of Medical Education and Simulation Products,” said Todd Murray, CEO of 3B Scientific. “We continue to develop deep and broad penetration into the global medical simulation market and Cardionics auscultation products provide strong synergies and an excellent focused offering to complement the overall 3B Scientific simulation line.”
Cardionics Chief Operating Officer Andy Strandell will continue in his role with Cardionics and is excited about the future growth prospects of the two companies. “The combination of 3B Scientific and Cardionics is an ideal combination to take advantage of the global distribution capabilities of 3B Scientific with the category leading auscultation products of Cardionics. I look forward to working closely with the new team.”
The healthcare simulation market has experienced significant growth in the past decade and is estimated to reach USD $2.27 Billion by 2021, according to a 2016 Markets and Markets report.
3B Scientific was founded in 1948 in Hamburg, Germany and has grown to be the world’s leading manufacturer of anatomical and biological education and simulation for science, healthcare and patient education. Represented in over 100 countries worldwide, the brand name 3B Scientific® stands for best quality, best value, and best service.
Cardionics was founded by the late Dr. Abe Ravin, M.D., FACC in 1969 and continues to set the pace for auscultation products and services through the development of unique, interactive, and experiential systems that integrate seamlessly into classroom, clinical, and telehealth applications. Read the full press release here.
