Schumacher Clinical Partners, a physician staffing company with 5,200 doctors contracted to hospitals, is acquiring ECI Healthcare Partners. Terms were not disclosed.
Schumacher of Lafayette, La., has a major presence in the southeastern U.S. and in the Gulf states, while ECI's major markets are complementary in California, along the west coast, in the Northeast and the Midwest, Schumacher CEO Rich D'Amaro said in a release.
Schumacher has about 300 contracts to staff hospital emergency rooms and for hospitalists, serving about 6 million patients annually. Traverse City, Mich.-based ECI has about 2,000 employed physicians and 150 contracts serving 2 million patients. The combined company will operate in 32 states.
“Being physician-led and patient-focused for the last 44 years, the creation of this new company gives us the opportunity to advance the service and value we bring clients and patients in today's competitive healthcare environment,” Dr. Derik King, president of ECI, said in the release.
The companies said they expected to complete the deal in the second quarter.
Schumacher was founded in 1984 by Dr. William “Kip” Schumacher, who still serves as the company's executive chairman. ECI was founded in 1972.
Both are dwarfed by TeamHealth in Knoxville, Tenn., the nation's largest contract physician staffing company with about 15,000 employed physicians.
TeamHealth physicians see 10% of all ER patients across the country and the company annually recruits 20% of all ER residents nationwide.
