Lumexa acquires imaging center as part of new joint venture with UPMC

Lumexa Imaging recently acquired an imaging center as part of a new joint venture with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, with more locations likely on the way. 

The publicly traded radiology provider announced Tuesday it’s buying a facility in Wexford, Pennsylvania, in partnership with the state’s largest hospital system. CEO Caitlin Zulla says Lumexa inked the JV deal around August-September of last year and is now working with UPMC on other outposts, with multiple newly constructed centers on the way. 

Altogether, Lumexa Imaging hopes to open between 8 to 10 newly constructed, “de novo” centers in 2026, including multiple ones built in partnership with UPMC. The company, formerly known as US Radiology Specialists, now operates approximately 190 centers spanning 13 states. 

“We are exceptionally excited to start off the UPMC joint venture with the acquisition of a facility, and very much it is something that will continue to drive the growth of our partnership together,” Zulla told investors during the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company’s quarterly earnings call May 12. “We are actively advancing site planning with UPMC and expect to be able to announce at least a few de novos with them this year,” she added.  

As part of the announcement, Lumexa also is acquiring a second center in Concord, North Carolina, as part of a different joint venture with Advocate Health. In total, about 85 of the company’s centers are now run through hospital joint ventures. Lumexa additionally announced the opening of two more de novo centers—in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Niceville, Florida—that are wholly owned by the company. Zulla said they are part of a push by the Lumexa to expand its footprint in attractive metropolitan areas as it seeks to deliver profitable growth. 

“When it comes to M&A and tuck-in acquisitions of new centers, there is a lot of opportunity to bring our expertise to a fragmented market and accelerate our presence across targeted geographies,” Zulla read from prepared remarks on Tuesday. “We are continuously evaluating accretive opportunities with a disciplined and proven approach. On the JV front, in addition to excitement around our ramping UPMC partnership, we are cultivating a robust pipeline of potential health system partners with multiple ongoing conversations at various stages.”

Q1 earnings

Lumexa Imaging also shared its first-quarter earnings results in a separate announcement published Tuesday. 

The radiology group logged consolidated revenues of nearly $253 million in the first three months of 2026, up 3% over the same period last year. Systemwide revenue grew 4%, while same-center (only counting locations operating in both quarters) advance imaging (MRI and CT) volumes increased by almost 6%. 

Lumexa reported net income of $2 million for Q1 compared to a net loss last year of nearly $8 million. Adjusted earnings were flat year over year, at $51 million, while Lumexa logged an adjusted earnings margin of over 20%. Zulla and colleagues said they are reiterating their financial guidance for 2026, with anticipated consolidated earnings of up to $1.097 billion and adjusted earnings as high as $242 million.

“In Q1, we delivered several meaningful achievements to kick off a year of executing on our strategic priorities,” Zulla said in a statement about the earnings results. “We continued to drive strong growth in same-center advanced imaging volumes and our de novo centers are ramping according to our plans.”

Systemwide, Lumexa delivered about 967,000 total procedures, up almost 3% from Q1 of 2025. This included almost 358,00 advanced procedures, up 7%. The company saw the percentage of all procedures classified as advanced scans rise 150 basis points year over year, up to 37%.

Lumexa Imaging’s (LMRI) stock was up about 3.35%, trading at $10.50 following news of the results.