Concentra to announce major deal in Q3
Several sources indicate Concentra will announce a major acquisition in Q3 2006. Speculation is that the deal will involve adding a significant number of occupational medicine clinics to Concentra's present 300 or so.
The next question is likely to be who/what clinics would be acquired. Here's where the speculation turns to outright guessing.
One candidate may be HealthSouth. The troubled chain needs cash, has a lot of clinics, some of which actually generate decent patient volumes, and does a fair job of marketing itself to doctors and employers. However, HealthSouth sold its occ med clinics to another potential target several years ago.
The acquirer was USHealthWorks, a much smaller company company with strong traction in markets that are complementary to Concentra, including 56 occ med clinics in California alone. USHW is privately held, making a transaction smoother and likely faster than a deal with a publicly-traded firm. Concentra is owned by private equity firm Welsh Carson Anderson Stowe, which apparently remains enamored with the company's potential.
Headquartered in Alpharetta GA, USHW has more than 160 clinics, 450 docs, and treats over 10,000 patients per day.
Adding USHW to the Concentra operation would result in one company with over 450 clinics touching over 13% of all workers comp injuries.
What does this mean for you?
More consolidation in the health care industry is quite consistent with recent developments, and while it may help streamline operations and reduce some overhead while improving claims and medical record document flow, my guess is some of the larger payers will be concerned about the growing market power of Concentra as the "initial treater" of WC injuries.
Comments
Concentra picking up USH's assets after merging OH&R appears to follow the Blockbuster model of acquiring regional mom & pop entities in growing markets until it is the dominant player on the national stage. It was only a matter of time, really. Will there be a new name, too? Perhaps this can help jump start the process ...
From Concentra to Concentra-TION?
Concentra-Taking
Concentra-T.Initiative
Concentra-T.I.Optimizing
Concentra-T.I.O.Networking
or
Concentra-Triaging
Concentra-T.Industrial
Concentra-T.I.Opportunities
Concentra-T.I.O.Nationally
or
Concentra-Technological
Concentra-T.Innovation
Concentra-T.I.Over
Concentra-T.I.O.Naysayers
The Concentra-TION of their efforts is creating a dominate niche provider for acute injury treatments.
Now, if they were to focus on improving their corporate customer's emphasis on improving the employee's role for their own health, wellness, safety and prevention of injuries in the workplace - they would be in a better position to shift the relationship from medical provider/vendor to medical provider/partner.
That's when the true Concentra-TION of wealth and the digital divid-ends from their proprietary information system. But that's another story altogether.
Posted by: Tom LeClair | June 2, 2006 1:09 PM
Shouldn't they focus on putting more volume through their existing clinics instead of buying more? Can the occhealth clinic business grow organically without broadening its service offering (ie offering basic preventive care services to its employer customer base)?
Posted by: John Blanksteen | June 6, 2006 5:43 PM
I used to provide utilization review/case management for Concentra..Who might I contact about providing this work again? Thank you so much.
Posted by: Lynn Whelan, PT | June 7, 2006 7:01 PM