Interoperability and automation software represent key investment opportunities in clinical trials management, according to recent private equity activity by Nordic Capital and Riverside Partners. These investments reflect growing recognition that clinical research technology faces the same integration challenges that have driven healthcare IT investment for the past two decades. Reeve Waud’s experience building electronic health record platforms provides a framework for understanding why interoperability represents the critical value creation opportunity in clinical trial software investment.
Healthcare data integration has created substantial private equity returns across practice management and EHR platforms, demonstrating that interoperability challenges often represent investment opportunities rather than technical obstacles. Reeve Waud’s systematic approach to healthcare software integration offers lessons for evaluating clinical trial technology platforms that must coordinate data across multiple research sites, regulatory jurisdictions, and pharmaceutical company systems.
The Integration Challenge
Integrated Practice Solutions exemplifies how Reeve Waud’s team addresses healthcare software integration complexity. IPS is described as providing “market-leading software applications” that “include ChiroTouch, RevolutionEHR, ClinicSource and ACOM Health” across different healthcare segments. Each platform must integrate with broader healthcare data ecosystems while maintaining segment-specific functionality.
The integration challenges IPS addresses—connecting specialized healthcare workflows with broader health information systems—mirror the interoperability requirements facing clinical trial management platforms. Research sites must coordinate patient data with sponsor databases, regulatory submission systems, and hospital EHR platforms while maintaining data integrity and compliance across multiple standards.
Reeve Waud’s experience scaling IPS demonstrates understanding of healthcare software integration that extends beyond technical connectivity to encompass workflow optimization and user adoption across fragmented healthcare segments. Clinical trial platforms face similar challenges coordinating research workflows across pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and clinical sites with different technological capabilities.
Workflow Optimization Focus
Waud Capital targets “mission-critical software with clear value propositions that help companies operate more effectively,” particularly solutions that improve healthcare operational efficiency. Clinical trial interoperability represents exactly this type of operational improvement opportunity, where software integration eliminates manual data entry, reduces errors, and accelerates research timelines.
The firm’s healthcare investments consistently focus on workflow optimization rather than simple digitization. According to IPS’s description, the company’s software and support “enable practices to streamline operations, improve patient care and enhance profitability” through integrated solutions that address multiple aspects of healthcare delivery. Clinical trial platforms require similar workflow integration to coordinate patient recruitment, data collection, adverse event reporting, and regulatory submission processes.
Reeve Waud’s portfolio demonstrates systematic approach to identifying healthcare software opportunities where integration creates competitive advantages and sustainable value propositions for healthcare providers.
Standards and Compatibility
Healthcare IT standards expertise becomes particularly valuable in clinical trial software evaluation, where platforms must comply with Good Clinical Practice guidelines, FDA requirements, and international regulatory standards while maintaining compatibility with diverse healthcare information systems.
Reeve Waud‘s experience with healthcare data standards through Acadia Healthcare’s operations provides understanding of large-scale healthcare data management requirements. Clinical trial platforms face similar challenges coordinating data across multiple sites while maintaining regulatory compliance and data integrity standards.
The firm’s healthcare technology investments reflect understanding that standards compliance creates competitive moats in healthcare software markets, where interoperability requirements favor platforms with deep healthcare IT integration expertise over generic software solutions.
Interoperability represents a key investment criterion for clinical trial software evaluation, requiring the same healthcare IT integration expertise that Reeve Waud has developed across decades of successful healthcare technology platform development.
