Labcorp has completed its acquisition of North Mississippi Health Services' ambulatory outreach laboratory business.
Tupelo-based North Mississippi will still operate its hospital and clinic labs, according to a Monday news release. Under the purchase agreement, Labcorp plans to open three patient service centers by mid-year in Tupelo, West Point and Amory, Mississippi. It also will become a referral laboratory for the health system's hospitals and clinics. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Related: Why Labcorp, Quest Diagnostics are buying hospital labs
The independent lab company has been on a growth streak in the past year, most recently agreeing to acquire BioReference Health's oncology diagnostic testing assets last month for up to $225 million. In January it agreed to operate five Inspira Health hospital labs, and in December acquired select assets from Johnson City, Tennessee-based Ballad Health. Labcorp also has reached similar deals with Springfield, Massachusetts-based Baystate Health, Renton, Washington-based Providence and Naples, Florida-based NCH Healthcare System.
More hospitals and health systems are looking to shed lab assets and operations to redirect resources to other areas. Independent lab companies can often perform a higher volume of tests at a lower cost than hospitals conducting tests in-house.
Quest Diagnostics, another independent lab company, has also added more hospital and health system labs to its portfolio, including deals with Cleveland-based University Hospitals, Minneapolis-based Allina Health and Columbus-based OhioHealth.
