Mednax, one of the nation's leading providers of outsourced physicians and advanced practice clinicians to hospitals, is broadening its geographic reach and ability to provide children's subspecialty physicians.
The Sunrise, Fla.-based firm announced the acquisition this week of Northwest Anesthesia, a practice of 128 anesthesiologists and anesthetists who predominantly serve at Allina Health hospitals and surgical centers in Minneapolis.
At the Jefferies Healthcare Conference this week, Mednax CFO Vivian Lopez-Blanco told analysts that the purchase is Mednax's first into Minnesota.
Also this week, Mednax diversified for the first time into ophthalmology services with the acquisition of Children's Eye Care of North Texas, a Plano, Texas-based physician practice that serves 15 hospitals and clinics. Terms were not disclosed for either acquisition.
Mednax competes against other national physician staffing companies such as TeamHealth, AmSurg and Envision Healthcare. AmSurg and Envision are reportedly in advanced merger talks.
Lopez-Blanco said physician practices are turning to national companies like Mednax so they can concentrate solely on their clinical care rather than deal with the increasingly complex interaction taking place with payers.
Mednax, she said, has developed a full data department to help its physicians provide the quality metrics that Medicare and payers require, as well as perform research in some of its specialties, including neonatology.
Mednax, which is the largest provider of outsourced neonatologists in the country, also has used acquisitions to create a big presence in anesthesiology, radiology and pediatric subspecialties
Mednax ended 2015 with net income of $336.3 million on revenue of $2.78 billion. That's compared with net income of $317.3 million on revenue of $2.44 billion last year.
