Datavant, a platform for healthcare data collaboration, has finalized its acquisition of Ontellus, a provider specializing in health records retrieval and claims intelligence, marking the establishment of Datavant’s fourth business vertical, Legal & Insurance.This new vertical aims to streamline the secure and compliant exchange of clinical and billing data between healthcare providers and various requesters, including legal and insurance professionals. Vince Cole, former CEO of Ontellus, will lead this division, reporting directly to Kyle Armbrester, CEO of Datavant.”Every hour we can save from the task of exchanging health records is an hour that can be used for patient care,” stated Kyle Armbrester. “By bringing together Datavant and Ontellus, we will transform what has been a largely manual, time-consuming process for both making and fulfilling health record requests to a more efficient, digital process that allows providers and requesters to spend more time on higher value activities.”The acquisition aligns with Datavant’s objective of securely and compliantly moving health data from its source to authorized users in the correct format. Ontellus has pursued a similar goal by digitizing its records retrieval operations into a nationwide platform, offering record requesters direct access to providers. Additionally, Ontellus provides canvassing services that deliver detailed claimant treatment timelines, designed to assist insurance customers in validating claims or uncovering preexisting conditions, thereby helping to reduce unnecessary and costly claims exposure.Armbrester commented, “The Ontellus team has built a technology platform and scaled service offerings that are trusted by legal and insurance professionals across the country, and I am confident that through Vince’s leadership we will be able to leverage the spectrum of our expertise and capabilities to benefit all of our clients.”Datavant currently facilitates the movement of over 60 million healthcare records among thousands of organizations across the healthcare ecosystem, including more than 80,000 hospitals and clinics, 75% of the 100 largest health systems, and over 300 real-world data partners. The company maintains offices in Boston, New York, San Diego, Barcelona, and Galway. Ontellus is recognized as one of the nation’s largest privately held data retrieval and claims intelligence providers.