California-based healthcare giant Dignity Health's Medical Foundation is acquiring a more than 70-year-old radiology practice, the two organizations announced on Tuesday.
MD Imaging, based in Redding, has inked a “definitive” agreement to be acquired by Dignity Health Advanced Imaging. Those involved expect the transition to take place in the spring, with Dignity welcoming the practice’s providers to its team.
This will allow patients to receive care from the same radiologists while benefitting from Dignity’s integrated network. The foundation is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, and is affiliated with Mercy Medical Center Redding, Mercy Regional Cancer Center and the Dignity Health Medical Group, employing specialists in neurology, orthopedics, trauma, cardiology, and women's health.
“We look forward to collaborating together to build upon and expand MDI’s legacy and commitment to providing exceptional imaging services in the Redding area,” Rich Martinez, executive director of Dignity Health Advanced Imaging, said in a Nov. 14 announcement. “We expect this agreement to bring additional benefits to the community, including more integrated and affordable services for patients, and increased physician recruitment to serve the community’s healthcare needs.”
MD Imaging’s roots date back to 1951, when George Martin, MD, opened the area’s first radiology practice in downtown Redding above a drugstore. He soon partnered with other local physicians and renamed the business as Redding Radiological Associates, according to an archived version of the practice’s website. The business underwent a total renovation and name change in the 1990s, rebranding as MD Imaging Inc. Along the way, it began offering several area firsts, including nuclear medicine and PET, MRI and the MammoTest II nonsurgical breast biopsy.
“We look forward to joining with Dignity Health and contributing our quality medical care to their services,” MD Imaging CEO Michael Davis said in the announcement. “This opportunity assures that our community continues to receive the care they have grown to expect from MD Imaging well into the future.”
Davis, 70, has been with the imaging group for 20-plus years, buying Shasta Diagnostic Imaging in 1994, which merged with Redding Radiological Associates in 1996. He hopes to stay on board after the acquisition, estimating that the company has 110 employees and two locations, the Record Searchlight reported. MD Imaging sees about 500 patients a day, but like others, has grappled with economic challenges.
“I saw what was happening with declining reimbursements and costs going up. It was inevitable," Davis told the newspaper. "We have done really well. We have good equipment, most all of it is paid for.”
Dignity Health Advanced Imaging, meanwhile, has been around for 11 years and has 19 locations throughout the northern California region, primarily in the Sacramento area. It’s part of the larger CommonSpirit Health organization, which was founded in 1986 and has more than 1,000 care sites spanning 21 states.
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.