Henry Schein Acquires Majority Interest in Unitas PPO Solutions

Strategic Acquisition of Long-Standing Referral Partner Complements eAssist Dental Solutions, Helps to Improve Critical Dental Practice Insurance and Billing Functions

MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC) announced today that its subsidiary, eAssist Dental Solutions (eAssist), has acquired a majority interest in Unitas PPO Solutions (Unitas), a privately held service provider that works with dental practices to assess their commercial insurance participation, set competitive fee-for-service rates, and negotiate contracted reimbursement with commercial insurers (PPO plans). The addition of Unitas is the result of a long-standing strategic relationship with Henry Schein that was formed in 2014 and offers a variety of service plans tailored to the specific needs of a dental practice.

Headquartered in Mesa, AZ, Unitas was founded in 2010 by Mike Alder to help dental practices negotiate PPO rates and optimize PPO participation. Mr. Alder will continue to manage the Unitas business as Chief Executive Officer, along with the current Unitas management team. In 2021, Unitas had sales of approximately $5 million. This transaction is expected to be neutral to Henry Schein’s 2022 diluted earnings per share and to be accretive thereafter. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In June 2021, Henry Schein acquired a majority interest in eAssist, provider of the nation’s leading platform of outsourced revenue cycle services to the dental industry. The addition of Unitas complements eAssist’s revenue cycle offering. Unitas has industry-leading expertise in analyzing claims and fee data that are expected to improve fee analysis services offered by Henry Schein, and enhance the collections processes of the eAssist platform, allowing dental practices to simplify operations and reduce stress related to cash flow.

“The addition of Unitas will help dental practice teams improve their critical insurance and billing functions and allow more focused attention on delivering high-quality patient care,” said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein. “Combining Unitas with our existing eAssist business is an excellent strategic fit within our portfolio of services for dental practices, and makes Henry Schein the one-stop-shop for all dental insurance reimbursement, revenue cycle, and dental billing service needs. We welcome our new colleagues from Unitas to Team Schein.”

The acquisition of Unitas not only advances and accelerates the development of value-added services offered by Henry Schein Dental but also further strengthens the Company’s commitment to be a trusted advisor to customers. Together, eAssist and Unitas bring new opportunities to help customers deliver effective and predictable business outcomes to enable an exceptional patient experience.

“By addressing the important topic of reimbursement, each organization will continue to focus on what they do best,” said Dr. James Anderson, CEO of eAssist Dental Solutions. “Unitas will further our collective missions to offer best-of-breed products and services to help dental practices operate more efficiently and profitably while freeing up resources to allow the dental office team to focus on patient care and clinical outcomes.”

“Dental practices must ensure they are being paid appropriate rates for the services they perform to mitigate rising costs,” said Mr. Alder. “Unitas brings multiple advantages to our customers, including our established relationships with payer-provider relations and contracting teams. We look forward to continuing our rapid growth as we expand our reach through the industry leadership of Henry Schein and eAssist.”

About Henry Schein, Inc.

Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC) is a solutions company for health care professionals powered by a network of people and technology. With approximately 22,000 Team Schein Members worldwide, the Company's network of trusted advisors provides more than 1 million customers globally with more than 300 valued solutions that help improve operational success and clinical outcomes. Our Business, Clinical, Technology, and Supply Chain solutions help office-based dental and medical practitioners work more efficiently so they can provide quality care more effectively. These solutions also support dental laboratories, government and institutional health care clinics, as well as other alternate care sites.

Henry Schein operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, with a selection of more than 120,000 branded products and Henry Schein private-brand products in stock, as well as more than 180,000 additional products available as special-order items.

A FORTUNE 500 Company and a member of the S&P 500® index, Henry Schein is headquartered in Melville, N.Y., and has operations or affiliates in 32 countries and territories. The Company's sales reached $12.4 billion in 2021, and have grown at a compound annual rate of approximately 12.5 percent since Henry Schein became a public company in 1995.

For more information, visit Henry Schein at www.henryschein.com, Facebook.com/HenrySchein, Instagram.com/HenrySchein, and Twitter.com/HenrySchein.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

In accordance with the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we provide the following cautionary remarks regarding important factors that, among others, could cause future results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, expectations and assumptions expressed or implied herein. All forward-looking statements made by us are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance and achievements or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements include EPS guidance and are generally identified by the use of such terms as “may,” “could,” “expect,” “intend,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “anticipate,” “to be,” “to make” or other comparable terms. A fuller discussion of our operations, financial condition and status of litigation matters, including factors that may affect our business and future prospects, is contained in documents we have filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, and will be contained in all subsequent periodic filings we make with the SEC. These documents identify in detail important risk factors that could cause our actual performance to differ materially from current expectations. Forward looking statements include the overall impact of the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the Company, its results of operations, liquidity and financial condition (including any estimates of the impact on these items), the rate and consistency with which dental and other practices resume or maintain normal operations in the United States and internationally, expectations regarding personal protective equipment (“PPE”) and COVID-19 related product sales and inventory levels, whether additional resurgences or variants of the virus will adversely impact the resumption of normal operations, whether vaccine mandates will adversely impact the Company (by disrupting our workforce and/or business), whether supply chain disruptions will adversely impact our business, the impact of restructuring programs as well as of any future acquisitions, and more generally current expectations regarding performance in current and future periods. Forward looking statements also include the (i) ability of the Company to have continued access to a variety of COVID-19 test types, expectations regarding COVID-19 test sales, demand and inventory levels, as well as the efficacy or relative efficacy of the test results given that the test efficacy has not been, or will not have been, independently verified under normal FDA procedures and (ii) potential for the Company to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines and ancillary supplies.

Risk factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current and historical results include, but are not limited to: risks associated with COVID-19 and any variants thereof, as well as other disease outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, or similar wide-spread public health concerns and other natural disasters; our dependence on third parties for the manufacture and supply of our products; our ability to develop or acquire and maintain and protect new products (particularly technology products) and technologies that achieve market acceptance with acceptable margins; transitional challenges associated with acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures, including the failure to achieve anticipated synergies/benefits; financial and tax risks associated with acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures; certain provisions in our governing documents that may discourage third-party acquisitions of us; effects of a highly competitive (including, without limitation, competition from third-party online commerce sites) and consolidating market; the repeal or judicial prohibition on implementation of the Affordable Care Act; changes in the health care industry; risks from expansion of customer purchasing power and multi-tiered costing structures; increases in shipping costs for our products or other service issues with our third-party shippers; general global and domestic macroeconomic and political conditions, including inflation, deflation, fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to foreign currencies and changes to other economic indicators, international trade agreements, potential trade barriers and terrorism; failure to comply with existing and future regulatory requirements; risks associated with the EU Medical Device Regulation; failure to comply with laws and regulations relating to health care fraud or other laws and regulations; failure to comply with laws and regulations relating to the collection, storage and processing of sensitive personal information or standards in electronic health records or transmissions; changes in tax legislation; risks related to product liability, intellectual property and other claims; litigation risks; new or unanticipated litigation developments and the status of litigation matters; risks associated with customs policies or legislative import restrictions; cyberattacks or other privacy or data security breaches; risks associated with our global operations; our dependence on our senior management, employee hiring and retention, and our relationships with customers, suppliers and manufacturers; and disruptions in financial markets. The order in which these factors appear should not be construed to indicate their relative importance or priority.

We caution that these factors may not be exhaustive and that many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Accordingly, any forward-looking statements contained herein should not be relied upon as a prediction of actual results. We undertake no duty and have no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law.

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Investors

Ronald N. South

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

(631) 845-2802

Graham Stanley
Vice President, Investor Relations and Strategic Financial Project Officer

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(631) 843-5963

Media
Ann Marie Gothard
Vice President, Global Corporate Media Relations

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(631) 390-8169

Source: Henry Schein, Inc.