Massive Consolidations Taking Place Across Health Care, Especially Among Private Practices

- Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In the U.S., family physicians are front-line caregivers to people from different socioeconomic backgrounds in urban and rural areas across the 50 states. One in every five office physician visits is made to a family physician which accounts for around 192 million visits annually. Family physicians are an integral part of the rural primary care system and the U.S. healthcare system relies, in a major way, on primary care doctors to lower the overall Medicare spending. Government bodies have realized the importance of primary care physicians in developing a value-based healthcare system in the U.S. and have undertaken various initiatives to bridge these gaps between revenues of different specialties. These initiatives are anticipated to empower primary care physicians to spend more time with patients rather than performing other administrative work.  A report from Grand View Research predicts that the U.S. primary care physicians market size, which was valued at USD $283.0 billion in 2019, is expected to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7% from 2020 to 2027.  Active companies in the markets this week include: CB2 Insights, Inc. (CSE:CBII) (OTCQB: CBIIF), CloudMD Software & Services Inc. (TSXV: DOC) (OTCQB: DOCRF), One Medical (NASDAQ: ONEM), Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC), WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCPK: WLYYF).

The Grand View report stated: "Access to primary care providers can curb the growing rate of hospitalization, usage of prescription drugs, and prevalence of chronic diseases. General physicians practicing internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics provide early detection of diseases with immediate treatment, management of chronic conditions, and preventive measures. Primary care is the center of the U.S. healthcare system, reforms in the healthcare coverage will reenergize the infrastructure and aid the rebuilding of the primary care payment and delivery model. The comprehensive care provided by primary care physicians (PCPs) and the continuous patient and physician relationship is essential to improve the quality of care which will lead to positive patient outcomes in the long run." The report added that new delivery models via telehealth and home-based physician visits are expected to fuel market growth.  A key factor to the continuing health of the private practice sector will be consolidations. A recent article from STAT News, focused on the need for consolidation, saying: "The trend of local hospitals merging into massive health systems has significantly affected private practices. According to Avalere Health and the Physicians Advisory Institute, between 2016 and 2018 hospitals acquired 8,000 medical practices and 14,000 physicians left private practice to work in hospitals. Ever-larger health systems affect the flow of patient referrals a private practice needs to stay in business. They change the competitive dynamic for independent physicians, who aren't left with many choices at this point. They must find a way to get bigger or discover a niche."

CB2 Insights, Inc. (CSE:CBII) (OTCQB: CBIIF) BREAKING NEWS: CB2 Insights announces acquisition of Texas-based Primary Care Medical & Wellness Clinic with $1.6 million in Revenue and Positive EBITDA - CB2 Insights (CSE:CBII) (OTCQB: CBIIF) ("CB2" or the "Company"), one of the largest integrative healthcare systems in the United States, is pleased to announce that it has completed the asset acquisition of Maverick County Medical ("MCM") in Eagle Pass, Texas. The acquisition of MCM expands the Company's bricks and mortar and telemedicine services to 14 States and adds 10,300 new patients to its current roster of 100,000.

MCM has been operating in Eagle Pass for over 15 years with strong patient retention. Services to patients include primary care, occupational medicine, disease management, minor surgeries and treatment for auto accident injuries among others. Services provided by MCM are primarily reimbursed through insurance carriers including Medicare, Medicaid and other commercial payors. MCM also provides services for un-insured patients however representing a smaller proportion of today's revenues.

The Company expects to see continued growth in patient registrations and visits as MCM continues to thrive among the challenges most clinics have faced due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the Company will work quickly to expand on the current offering of services by leveraging its current telemedicine infrastructure to provide access to patients across the state of Texas. The Company will also evaluate the current services offered to determine growth in new and complimentary services, add new lines of revenue from insurable services, and expand overall patient care.

"Our goal is to provide accessible and affordable healthcare solutions." said Prad Sekar, CEO, CB2 Insights. "With the expansion into Texas by way of acquisition of MCM, we welcome a family of practitioners, staff and doctors who align with the direction of our Company, and will be a central point of expansion for our services through telemedicine, subscription services for uninsured patients, and the vision for an integrated National healthcare network."

MCM represents the first acquisition by the Company since its recently announced oversubscribed private placement of CAD 5.13 million in September 2020. The acquisition is also part of a 3-pronged growth model which includes growth from the current infrastructure, new services and acquisitions. The Company's experienced management team continues to develop a robust pipeline of accretive and strategic acquisition targets that are revenue generating, profitable and offer significant opportunities for growth.

The Company paid a total cash consideration of CAD 0.98 million for MCM. Terms of the transaction include a customary transition by the previous owners with 50% of the cash awarded at the signing of the transaction, and 50% due 6 months from the date of completion of the transaction. MCM reported revenues in 2019 of CAD 1.6 million and net income of CAD 0.29 million. Read more news for CB2 Insights at:  https://www.cb2insights.com/news 

Other recent developments in the markets include:

CloudMD Software & Services Inc. (TSXV: DOC) (OTCQB: DOCRF) recently announced that it has entered into a Binding Term Sheet to purchase a majority interest in Benchmark Systems Inc., a leading cloud-based provider of fully integrated solutions that automate healthcare workflow processes including revenue management, practice management and electronic records management. CloudMD will purchase 87.5% of Benchmark from Benchmark's parent company and global healthcare and AI leader, AntWorks Inc. AntWorks will retain a 12.5% equity stake and remain a strategic partner for CloudMD both in the U.S. and globally.

The purchase of Benchmark will be immediately accretive to CloudMD and provides a number of opportunities for optimization to drive further revenue. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, Benchmark generated approximately US$4.9 million in revenues with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margins of 13%. Approximately 80% of revenue was SAAS based, recurring revenue.

One Medical (NASDAQ: ONEM), a leading national technology-powered primary care organization, recently announced plans to enter greater Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and parts of Wisconsin, marking its 14th and 15th metropolitan markets. This follows entry into Atlanta, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and Orange County, California in 2020 and behind its anticipated entry into Austin, Texas.  Partnering in North Carolina with Duke Health, one of the world's premier academic health systems, the two organizations intend to deliver seamless, coordinated care across the Greater Raleigh-Durham region through clinical and digital integrations between primary and speciality care settings.

"We are most excited to partner with Duke Health to help deliver the absolute best in highly coordinated care," said Amir Dan Rubin, Chair & CEO at One Medical. "Together we are committed to delivering better health, better care, and better value."

Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) announced it plans to report results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2020 after the market closes on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. The company will host a conference call the following morning, Wednesday, October 21, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Central time).

A live webcast and audio archive of the call may be accessed through the investor relations section of Tenet's website. The audio archive will be available on Tenet's website for approximately 30 days.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a diversified healthcare services company headquartered in Dallas with 112,000 employees. Through an expansive care network that includes United Surgical Partners International, we operate 65 hospitals and approximately 510 other healthcare facilities, including surgical hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care and imaging centers and other care sites and clinics. We also operate Conifer Health Solutions, which provides revenue cycle management and value-based care services to hospitals, health systems, physician practices, employers and other customers. Across the Tenet enterprise, we are united by our mission to deliver quality, compassionate care in the communities we serve. 

WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCPK: WLYYF), a company focused on consolidating and modernizing clinical and digital assets within the primary healthcare sector, recently announced the launch of apps.health, a digital health app marketplace and innovation hub that connects digital health technology companies and software developers  to the WELL network of over 2,000 primary healthcare clinics and 10,000 physicians.  WELL intends on collaborating with digital health application developers to market and promote the features and benefits of their products and services to clinics and physicians, and by doing so accelerate adoption and enable improved healthcare experiences for both physicians and patients.

"To our knowledge apps.health is the first comprehensive offering of a digital health marketplace for EMR integrated apps in Canada that allow digital health software and technology companies to showcase their capabilities and provide a call to action," said Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and CEO of WELL.  "Our objective with apps.health is to provide an environment where clinicians and app publishers can meet and transparently discover opportunities to modernize and digitize practices across the country."

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