Private equity-backed Capitol Imaging snatches up 7 imaging centers in Gulf Coast
Capitol Imaging is acquiring seven more outpatient imaging centers, the growing private equity-backed radiology group announced Tuesday.
The deal is with DRH & Associates Inc., which does business as Houston MRI & Diagnostic Imaging. Based in Metairie, La., Capitol Imaging has ballooned its location count from 20 five years ago to 48 across Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
“We are thrilled to further build Capitol Imaging into one of the largest outpatient imaging platforms in the Gulf South region,” Geoffrey Faux, partner with Stamford, Connecticut-based Clearview Capital, said in a statement. “Capitol Imaging provides tremendous value to its patients, referral sources and payers as a low cost-of-care setting, and we look forward to continuing our expansion strategy in the company’s current and adjacent markets.”
Capitol Imaging launched seven years ago with a $550 million committed fund from the investment group. It has grown through acquisition since, including adding the Houston Premier Radiology Center and Alliance MRI (a total of 10 locations) in June 2023. The company’s roots date to December 2014 when interventional radiologist and New Orleans native John Hamide, MD, acquired Baton Rouge Imaging. This led to him buying four more centers in 2015 and an additional 16 across Alabama and Louisiana in the five years that followed.
Continued growth led to Hamide partnering with Clearview Capital, “which brought a strong funding capability and organizational structure into Capitol Imaging,” according to its website. Houston MRI offers a full range of diagnostic imaging services and is not affiliated with a hospital or emergency room. The acquisition balloons Capitol Imaging’s footprint to 18 freestanding imaging centers in the area.
“We are excited to welcome the patients and staff from Houston MRI to our Capitol Imaging family,” John Stagg, CEO of the practice since October 2020, said in a statement. “This will provide many additional opportunities for our growth throughout Greater Houston, Texas and the Gulf South region,” he added later.
Capitol Imaging said it continues to seek add-on imaging center acquisitions in the Southeast and Gulf South with a preference for multi-site and multimodality operations.
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.