TriStar-CareSpot joint venture announced

TriStar Health, Brentwood, Tenn., has formed a joint venture with CareSpot to open as many as 15 urgent-care centers in the middle Tennessee area.

CareSpot, formerly known as Solantic, is a chain of urgent-care centers that Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a former HCA executive, founded in 2001 before selling the company to a private-equity firm in 2011.

The partnership allows CareSpot, also based in Brentwood, to expand beyond its core Florida operations, according to a news release. The company plans to hire about 100 new employees to serve the region.

The urgent-care centers will carry the CareSpot name, and the chain will manage daily operations. Patients will be able to book appointments through the web or from their smartphones, the news release said.

The partnership follows a separate agreement that TriStar Health, a division of Nashville-based HCA, formed with CVS Caremark's retail-clinic operator, MinuteClinic. That deal calls for TriStar to provide medical directors to the in-store clinics as well as collaborate on patient education programs and integrate electronic health records.