Neoforma.com, Santa Clara, Calif., Eclipsys Corp. of Delray Beach, Fla., and HEALTHvision Inc. have agreed to merge, forming a new company to serve the electronic health care business-to-business marketplace.

Under the terms of the agreement, Eclipsys shareholders will receive 1.344 shares of Neoforma.com stock for each share of Eclipsys, while HEALTHvision shareholders will receive .444 shares of Neoforma.com stock. The new company will be known as Neoforma.com until a new name is selected.

In other news, Neoforma.com will acquire EquipMD Inc., Atlanta, for about $159 million in stock, officials said. The acquisition is "the first of several steps we are taking to aggregate buyers through strategic transactions in each of several key health care segments," said Bob Zollars, Neoforma's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

The company also signed a 10-year agreement to provide e-commerce services for 6,500 health care organizations participating in purchasing programs of medical supplies buyer Novation LLC.

Simione Central Holdings, Atlanta, has entered into an agreement with Redwood City, Calif.-based Confer Software to use that company's program to develop automated business-to-business Internet applications for home care providers, suppliers, payers and physicians.

The company will use the ConferWeb Platform as a base to develop software applications for intra- and inter-company transactions, officials said.

"In the new paradigm of home health care, providers need to increase productivity by implementing and automating more highly structured operational and clinical processes," said Charles Mead, M.D., Simione's chief science and technology officer. "Confer's eCare technology will greatly facilitate our ability to deliver next-generation software solutions that should help tame the disconnected, distributed and inefficient world of home care."

Gentiva Health Services, Melville, N.Y., has formed an alliance with Silver Spring, Md.-based United Therapeutics to distribute subcutaneous prostacyclin therapy to patients nationwide.

The alliance calls for Gentiva to distribute the pulmonary hypertension drug Uniprost to hospitals and patients participating in United Therapeutics clinical trials, as well as to handle clinical management, reimbursement and patient support services. In addition, Gentiva will provide patient education, compliance monitoring and collection of drug utilization data. HC