FastMed Partners with ABRY - Expansion Expected

Private equity firm, ABRY, is set to acquire FastMed, the second largest independent urgent care organization in the U.S.  The acquisition will include FastMed's 87 clinics and the corporate offices in North Carolina and Arizona.  Currently, FastMed employs more than 1,100 - which include physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.  FastMed CEO, Kevin Blank noted:

"The additional capital and management talent that ABRY provides will allow us to significantly expand our geographic footprint and grow organically as well as through targeted acquisitions…."

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter, 2015.  >>Read more

Drugstore Giant Partners to Offer Telehealth

Walgreens Boots Alliance, the merged drugstore and health retailer, is rolling out a new mobile app.  The latest app goes beyond facilitating Rx refills and a pharmacist chat to enable shoppers to consult with a doctor virtually via smartphone.  (MDLive, a telehealth provider, is Walgreens' partner.)

Already tested in California and Michigan, the app will go live for Illinois Walgreens' shoppers at the end of May.  The virtual doctor app is expected to roll out to 25 states by the end of 2015.  >>Read more

MinuteClinic…Here to Stay

The retail arm of CVS Health - MinuteClinic - reached an impressive milestone.  Since opening its first retail clinics in 2000, MinuteClinic locations have served 25 million patients.  The retail clinic began as an experiment in Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Wisconsin and has steadily evolved not only in size but service.  Today, Minute Clinic locations number approximately 1000 with the goal of over 1500 clinics by 2017.  Currently, the clinics offer 65 services and vaccinations (up from treating just 7 illnesses in the beginning).   >>Read more

New Growth Platform for MEDNAX

Virtual Radiologic Corporation (vRad), a leading radiology physician services and telemedicine company will soon provide MEDNAX with another revenue stream.  With the vRad acquisition, expected to be complete in Q2, MEDNAX adds radiology to its current specialty list which includes neonatal, anesthesia, maternal-fetal, pediatric cardiology.  

MEDNAX CEO, Roger Medel, M.D. noted that...

"…vRad is an excellent platform for growth in teleradiology and the broader telemedicine market…“Radiology is a large, fragmented industry… and it is evolving rapidly to include teleradiology as an economic and clinical necessity for customers.” 

>>Read more

✔ FACT:  The market size for Radiology is estimated at roughly $18B annually