Private equity-backed Solis Mammography enters new state with imaging center acquisition
Solis Mammography is entering a new market with the recent acquisition of a 15-year-old imaging center.
The private equity-backed provider group is buying the St. Louis Breast Center in the suburb of Ballwin, marking its first foray into Missouri. Solis Mammography now operates over 150 outpatient imaging centers across 23 major markets also including Dallas, Houston, Denver, D.C. and more.
A group of OB-GYN specialists first launched the St. Louis facility in 2010, and it has since remained one of the only independent imaging centers in the region.
"We're looking forward to building on St. Louis Breast Center's 15-year history of providing quality breast imaging services to the women of St. Louis," CEO Grant Davies said in a statement Oct. 14. "With every new market we enter, we have an opportunity to advance our mission of early breast cancer detection, serve more patients and save more lives."
Solis Mammography was founded in 1986 and in 2018 sold a majority stake to Chicago-based investment group Madison Dearborn Capital Partners. It has tripled in size during the seven years since, also opening three new locations in August. Solis prides itself on offering a boutique-style retail healthcare experience. This includes a “high-touch, patient-centric approach” that engages women in their own breast health, “driving awareness, increasing compliance and improving early detection through an innovation-driven screening platform.”
Earlier this month, the company also announced the opening of another new center in partnership with Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health system. The two are teaming to open a radiology facility in the suburb of Flourtown, Pennsylvania. This marks the 17th center opened in collaboration between Solis and Jefferson, who have been working together since 2018.
Those involved said the location will offer artificial intelligence-backed 3D mammography screening, including Mammo+Heart. The service scans mammograms for breast arterial calcification, which Solis said can signal risk of potential cardiovascular disease. Mammo+Heart also is offered at several other Jefferson Health locations across communities including Bucks, Center City, Cherry Hill, Frankford, Landsdale and more.
“This new center is a major step forward, improving access to cutting-edge mammography services across the region and bringing innovative diagnostic technology closer to home,” Baligh Yehia, MD, president of Jefferson Health, said in a separate statement Oct. 1.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.