Client Executive

How healthcare IT teams can run EHR optimization as a continuous cycle. Vendor releases, mergers and shared-system models keep changing clinical workflows. Optimization must keep pace, and IT needs a standing process for it. Jeff Kula is the Vice President of Healthcare Sales - Majors & Territory at CDW. Dr. Sonny Hyare is the CEO of ReMedi Health Solutions. He leads the company's mission to develop and implement impactful EHR solutions for physicians and hospital partners. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become a regular part of healthcare headlines, and when organizations join together, their application portfolios join too. Shared electronic health records systems (such as Epic, Oracle Health and MEDITECH) have a similar effect: Larger organizations extend their EHR to smaller hospitals and clinics that would not have the budget or in-house teams to deploy such a system on their own. Extending a system carries many of the same implications as an acquisition. In both cases, a group of users inherits an instance they did not design, along with its inefficiencies. Underlying both is the same need: to treat EHR optimization and workflow redesign as ongoing work, with an owner and a cadence, so that provider and patient experience keep improving after go-live. Clinical and IT teams need to collaborate on EHR workflows. EHR optimization and workflow redesign are under-discussed aspects of M&A and shared-system programs. Due diligence happens, but it rarely goes down to the level of workflows, so the receiving organization does not know the complexities or inefficiencies it is taking on. A new practice cannot adopt a larger organization's EHR overnight, and the build it inherits will shape how its clinicians work for years. In its experience, the first step is a detailed current-state versus future-state assessment, and clinical stakeholders have to be part of it. Clinicians need to understand how the EHR works today and how it will change, and IT needs to hear where the current build gets in the way of care. EHRs were once treated as IT projects. Today, they require lockstep collaboration between clinical and IT departments, and that collaboration needs a structure: a multidisciplinary steering committee with clinicians at the helm that owns intake, prioritization and the enhancement backlog. Every part of the EHR that touches a patient belongs in its scope, including revenue cycle, radiology and more, because the patient moves through all of them. Organizing governance around the patient journey keeps the backlog focused on the workflows that span departments. That is also why change management matters as much as the technical build. ReMedi and CDW work together to close the gap between clinical and IT perspectives. Here is where that shows up in practice: * Clinician adoption. ReMedi's teams bring healthcare expertise from the physician side as well as the IT side. Clinicians who have used the system at the point of care lead the workflow assessment and optimization sessions, so the redesign reflects how care is actually delivered. * Technology environment. A redesigned workflow only works if the devices, network, access and infrastructure behind it keep up. CDW's healthcare IT teams make sure that the environment the EHR runs on supports the new workflow, from end-user devices and secure access to the systems that keep the application available. When should EHR optimization happen? The answer is simple: from the start. The organizations that do this well maintain a long-term roadmap that separates what they will address now from what comes later, and they treat optimization as a continuous cycle. Planning never fully stops, because EHR vendors keep releasing new modules and enhancements, and each release is a decision: adopt, defer or decline. Without a standing process, those decisions default to later. Stagnation is what later looks like. Seven or eight years after go-live, care teams are still using outdated workflows even though features and processes have changed. Clinicians become comfortable with the idiosyncrasies of their work, even if a task takes 30 steps to complete. A partner that can offer the clinical perspective, that has been an end-user of an EHR, is a valuable asset for change.

CDW and its financing arms announced a $1.5 billion senior notes offering on 14 September 2026. The offering comprises $600 million of 5.700% notes due 2029, $500 million of 6.100% notes due 2032, and $400 million of 6.350% notes due 2033. The sale is being conducted through a registered public offering under an SEC shelf registration. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho Securities USA, and Wells Fargo Securities are leading the underwriting syndicate. The transaction is expected to close on 21 September 2026, subject to customary conditions. The proceeds will bolster CDW's long-term funding capacity and support its capital structure for operations and strategic objectives.

M&A acceleration continues: 152 deals close as tech and energy lead the charge. Strategic buyers dominate September's deal environment - a single day shows the breadth of M&A in 2026 One hundred fifty-two M&A deals closed on September 4th - a volume that underscores the accelerating pace of dealmaking across sectors, company sizes, and geographies. This is not a single mega-deal story. It is a multi-dimensional surge: tech platforms consolidating, energy firms repositioning, financial services adapting, and consumer companies optimizing portfolios all happened on the same day. The signal is clear: M&A activity has moved from headline-driven (waiting for the next mega-deal) to velocity-driven (deals are the baseline, mega-deals are the bonus). Sellers are meeting buyers. Capital is flowing. Valuations are being reset across industries. The mega-deals: AI and energy reshape strategy. Nvidia's $13 billion acquisition of Hugging Face stands as the day's marquee transaction. The deal signals a dramatic shift in AI strategy: instead of building AI infrastructure in-house, Nvidia is acquiring it - specifically, the talent, user base, and model libraries that Hugging Face represents. This is not a typical infrastructure play; it is a talent and platform acquisition. Shell's $16.5 billion acquisition of ARC Resources represents the opposite strategy: energy majors are buying reserves and production capability to expand their own footprint. In this case, Shell is deploying capital to access ARC's oil and gas assets and operational teams. The deal reflects confidence in energy demand and a willingness to pay up for proven reserves and capable management. These two transactions - one in AI services, one in energy - capture the range of strategic thinking driving September's M&A. Technology buyers are hunting for hosted solutions and user bases. Energy buyers are hunting for reserves and operations. Neither strategy is dependent on the other; both are rational responses to their respective market dynamics. A third major deal, Keurig Dr Pepper's decision to facilitate a stake sale in Chobani, reflects portfolio rebalancing. Chobani (the Greek yogurt brand) was acquired by KDP years ago and had become a minority holding. Selling or restructuring positions in mature brands to redeploy capital into higher-growth areas is a form of M&A-adjacent activity that drives valuations and signals seller appetite. Tech consolidation: breadth over depth. Fifty-one of 152 deals (34%) involved technology, software, or gaming companies - far ahead of any other sector. But this category masks important sub-trends. Cybersecurity was the hot zone: NetSPI and Synack merged to create a 200-million-dollar-revenue offensive security platform, and Tusker acquired Fortress SRM to expand its own cybersecurity services. These are not mega-deals, but they reflect the continued roll-up of fragmented cyber markets. CDW's $525 million acquisition of Lovelytics shows how traditional IT service providers are bolt-on buying to add data and AI capabilities without building from scratch. The pattern is consistent across tech: consolidators prefer to acquire complementary teams and platforms rather than develop them internally. Speed to market and customer access matter more than homegrown solutions. Financial services and fintech came in second with 39 deals - driven by wealth management consolidation, payments infrastructure deals, and DeFi platform activity. Equity Bancshares and Lincoln Bancorp's $123.8 million merger exemplifies regional bank consolidation, a slow-burn trend that continues as smaller financial institutions seek scale. Qapture Investments' acquisitions in DeFi strategies signal that even alternative asset managers are consolidating in this space. Business services (33 deals), industrials (23 deals), and consumer (19 deals) all participated actively. The breadth indicates that no single sector is "hot" - instead, buyers and sellers are actively transacting across the entire economy. Geography: US concentration with global spread. The United States accounted for 85 of 152 deals (56%), a share consistent with global dealmaking patterns. Spain ranked second with 16 deals, followed by India (12), and the United Kingdom (10). This distribution reflects both reporting density (US deals get more press coverage) and the reality of capital pools (US firms have access to the deepest capital markets). What is noteworthy is the activity outside the US. Spain's 16 deals suggest active regional consolidation in financial services, tech, and infrastructure. India's 12 deals, including Unacademy's $206 million sale to upGrad, reflect the ongoing consolidation of the Indian edtech market. These regional dynamics rarely dominate global headlines, but they represent significant capital deployment and strategic repositioning in emerging and developed markets alike. Cross-border activity - deals that span multiple countries - also featured prominently. ITP Media Group's acquisition of Heart Media Group to expand across Asia-Pacific signals strategic repositioning for regional dominance. These deals typically involve more complex due diligence and regulatory review than domestic transactions, but they continue to occur at steady rates, especially when strategic rationale is clear. Sector rotation: AI, energy, and healthcare converge. Energy infrastructure deals numbered 13 on September 4th, including the Shell-ARC Resources megadeal and Diversified Energy's $1.8 billion acquisition of Birch (backed by Carlyle), indicating serious capital deployment into energy assets. This sector is seeing both traditional and renewable energy transactions, signaling that capital is willing to back both established reserves and clean energy infrastructure. Healthcare and medtech saw 19 M&A announcements - consistent with the trend of healthcare consolidation driven by regulatory pressures, cost containment mandates, and the rise of specialized service platforms. Consumer (19 deals) and artificial intelligence (17 deals) both showed strong activity. The AI category is particularly interesting: while some deals are explicitly tagged as AI (e.g., CDW-Lovelytics), many others involve AI as a secondary component - acquisition of data capabilities, automation platforms, or software that includes AI features. This multi-sector participation suggests that 2026 M&A is settling into a new normal: no single theme dominates. Instead, multiple drivers - AI infrastructure, energy transition, healthcare consolidation, financial services adaptation, and consumer portfolio optimization - are all pushing deals forward simultaneously. Capital is available, valuations are settling, and buyers are confident enough to transact. Deal mechanics: strategic buyers lead. The vast majority of September 4th deals were strategic acquisitions - buyers purchasing companies to expand their own operations, capabilities, or customer base. Private equity and financial sponsors played a supporting role. This contrasts with years past, when LBO syndicates and financial buyers drove headline volume. Today, corporates and strategics are the engine of M&A. Bolt-on acquisitions and add-on purchases dominated over large-scale breakups or contested transactions. This indicates an orderly market: sellers and buyers are finding common ground without drawn-out negotiations or activist pressure. The speed and relative civility of deals suggest confidence on both sides and an absence of distressed selling. Deal sizes ranged widely - from sub-100-million deals (Tusker-Fortress SRM, various regional roll-ups) to mega-deals (Nvidia-Hugging Face, Shell-ARC Resources). This distribution is healthy: it indicates that M&A is happening at every scale, not just at the top end. Smaller companies have buyers. Mid-market firms are consolidating. Large enterprises are repositioning. Forward look: what September 4th signals. If September 4th is representative of the broader deal environment - and it likely is - then Q3 and Q4 2026 will continue to see robust M&A activity. One hundred fifty-two deals per day extrapolates to several thousand per month and tens of thousands per quarter across all sectors and geographies tracked. The types of transactions evident on September 4th - bolt-on acquisitions, strategic repositioning, consolidation plays, and occasional mega-deals - will likely persist. Buyers with strong balance sheets and clear acquisition strategies (Nvidia, Shell, larger service roll-ups) will continue to move aggressively. Sellers in fragmented industries (cybersecurity, regional banking, edtech) will face sustained pressure from consolidators. For investors and analysts, the implication is that consolidation multiples, synergy capture, and roll-up valuations will remain central to deal and stock market dynamics through the remainder of 2026. For founders and CEOs, it signals that buyers are active, capital is available, and exit windows are open - especially in fragmented sectors where consolidation logic is clear. The era of waiting for "the next mega-deal" is over. InforCapital, partnership is living in the era of distributed, sector-wide, constant dealmaking. September 4th proved it.