RadNet Inc. is acquiring seven outpatient imaging centers via its joint venture with hospital giant Dignity Health, the two announced Wednesday.
Arizona Diagnostic Radiology, as the partnership is called, is buying the Phoenix-area locations from Evernorth Care Group—the medical practice division of Cigna HealthCare of Arizona. Publicly traded, Los Angeles-based RadNet said the move will allow Evernorth to expand outpatient imaging services for its patients, who now have access to nine additional Arizona Diagnostic Radiology centers across the city.
“Since we entered the Arizona marketplace at the end of 2020, we have been committed to growing scale and expanding patient access and services,” RadNet President and CEO Howard Berger, MD, said in a Jan. 24 announcement. “This acquisition moves us further in the direction of achieving the patient access and breadth of services that we strive for in all of our core markets.”
RadNet announced its JV deal with 41-hospital Dignity Health in October 2020, marking its first foray into Arizona. The partnership kicked off with the acquisition of AZ Tech MRI & Radiology, which operated eight imaging centers in Arizona. RadNet and Dignity also previously collaborated on two other joint ventures in California launched in 2016 and 2019.
Newly acquired centers from Evernorth Care Group will also implement RadNet’s digital health solutions and artificial intelligence platform, DeepHealth. RadNet and Evernorth already worked together since June 2022, with the former providing radiologists to supervise, interpret and deliver diagnostic support.
“Through acquiring our radiology service line, Arizona Diagnostic Radiology will now provide imaging services in our care locations and bring their established leadership and best-in-class capabilities to support a holistic, high-quality imaging program that helps improve health outcomes for our patients,” Evernorth Care Group President Jeff Holt said in the announcement.
Following the deal, RadNet now has a network of 366 owned or operated outpatient imaging centers across markets including Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Florida.
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.