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Source: Nashville Business Journal
Author: Nikki Ross
Date: August 29, 2024
HCA Healthcare Inc. has fully taken over one of its joint ventures.
Valesco is now fully under the health care giant's umbrella after HCA bought out its partner EmCare, a physician practice management firm affiliated with Envision Healthcare, in June, according to statements shared with Becker’s Hospital Review this week.
The deal follows HCA’s move to increase its ownership in the physician staffing joint venture from 50% to 90% in April of 2023.
"HCA Healthcare has fully integrated Valesco into HCA Healthcare,” an HCA spokesperson told the Business Journal Aug. 29. “We believe this will create more opportunities for us to drive value for our patients, physician partners and our hospitals while improving operational performance of Valesco.”
HCA (NYSE: HCA) is Nashville’s largest publicly traded company by revenue, generating $64.9 billion in 2023, according to Business Journal research. The hospital system operates 186 hospitals and 2,400 ambulatory sites of care across 20 states and the United Kingdom.
Envision had $7.18 billion in revenue in 2021, ranking it the second-largest private company in Nashville at the time, according to Business Journal research. The company employs clinicians that provide emergency care, hospitalist medicine, anesthesiology, radiology and neonatology services.
In May 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and entered into a restructuring agreement with lenders that wiped out approximately $5.6 million in debt.
As part of the agreement, Envision and its ambulatory surgery center business, Amsurg, became two separate companies. The company hired its latest president and CEO, Jason Owen, in April of this year. Former CEO Jim Rechtin left the company in January to lead Humana Inc. (NYSE HUM).
Valesco has been a bit of a pain point for HCA in the past year. In an October 2023 earnings call, CEO Sam Hazen shared that the company’s results were "unfavorably impacted" by Valesco's performance amid increased staffing costs and lower-than-expected sales. The company was anticipating a loss of roughly $50 million per quarter.
But things have turned a corner as the company pushed to integrate the venture int he the hospital system and improved operational results.
Details of the deal were not disclosed. HCA Healthcare and Envision Healthcare did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.