Nutex Health acquires pair of independent Florida practice associations

On Aug. 22, Houston-based for-profit health care services company Nutex Health announced that it has acquired independent Florida practice associations Population Health Associates (PHA) and Managed Care Insurance Consultants (MCIC). According to a press release, Dr. Tom Vo, Nutex’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) said that the acquisition will allow his company to expand its footprint in Florida. 

"Nutex expects to open 5-6 Florida micro-hospitals in Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville by the end of 2025," Vo said, according to the press release. "We believe that our integrated healthcare delivery model of micro-hospitals surrounded by our own affiliated network of physicians, once operational, should translate into higher patient volumes for our hospitals while lowering the MCRs for our IPAs, making both the micro-hospitals and IPAs more profitable."

According to the press release, the addition of the Coral Gables, Fla.-based entities, which were established in 1996, to the Nutex platform brings in nearly 112 primary care physicians (PCP) and 4,400 managed care patients. The transaction calls for PHA and MCIC founder and CEO, Victor Behar, to oversee all Florida IPA operations for Nutex. 

"We welcome Mr. Behar and his team to the Nutex family and are excited to partner with the PHA and MCIC physicians in providing high-quality value-based care to our patients,” Nutex President Dr. Warren Hosseinion said, per the press release. “This acquisition accelerates our expansion in Florida and represents the continued execution of our growth strategy of building or buying IPAs around our facilities.”

The press release notes that the acquisition establishes synergies with South Florida Physicians IPA (SFPIPA), Nutex's existing network of PCPs in South Florida, as well as leverages Clinigence Health, which is Nutex's proprietary cloud-based population health management technology platform.

Nutex was established in 2011 as a physician-led, technology-enabled company and has a footprint of 21 facilities in eight states. Per a July 20 Houston Daily story, six of its hospitals were voted on by the communities they serve in recognition of their “patient satisfaction and unparalleled emergency care.”