MemorialCare Medical Foundation Forms Joint Venture to Operate 5 Southern California Imaging Centers

MemorialCare Medical Foundation, the physician group division of MemorialCare Health System in Southern California, has entered into a joint venture partnership with SimonMed, an imaging company, to operate five imaging centers in the counties of Los Angeles and Orange. The partnership is organized under a new company called Wave Imaging, LLC, with MemorialCare Medical Foundation holding a 51 percent stake and SimonMed holding a 49 percent stake in the business. Wave Imaging has acquired the assets of SimonMed imaging centers in Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Irvine and Laguna Niguel. The company’s retains sole control of its 48 other outpatient imaging centers. For MemorialCare, the centers now owned by Wave Imaging expand its network of inpatient and outpatient imaging facilities located on or near its six hospital campuses and clinic locations. The freestanding centers will be known as MemorialCare Imaging Centers. "The expansion of high quality imaging centers that play a major role in diagnosing medical conditions provides more convenient options for MemorialCare's growing patient base in Orange and Los Angeles counties," said Mark Schafer, MD, chief medical officer of MemorialCare Medical Foundation, in the press release. MemorialCare currently includes more than 200 patient care sites and more than 2,000 physicians who are part of its MemorialCare Medical Group and its Independent Practice Association—Greater Newport Physicians. It has plans to expand to include even more imaging centers, surgery centers, physician practices and other patient care locations.