Proactive MD Expands Diagnostic Footprint
Proactive MD is expanding its national reach and access to care through a series of new acquisitions. The move aims to build out the company's outpatient diagnostic imaging and pathology services within its value-based primary care networks.
- The move into outpatient diagnostics aligns with a major site-of-care shift driven by payers like Cigna and UnitedHealthcare, who have implemented policies to steer MRI and CT scans away from more expensive hospital-based departments. This trend is accelerating, with projections showing advanced outpatient imaging volumes will grow by nearly 14% over the next decade. - This acquisition strategy mirrors broader consolidation in the radiology sector, where the total number of radiology practices decreased by 14.7% between 2014 and 2023, while the number of practices with 100 or more radiologists grew by nearly 350%. This shift towards larger, often multispecialty, practices is a response to reimbursement pressures and the need for greater economies of scale. - Health systems are actively responding to the outpatient shift by acquiring, partnering with, or developing their own freestanding imaging assets to recapture patient volume and compete in lower-cost settings. This makes Proactive MD's direct acquisition of diagnostic services a competitive move to control a crucial part of the patient care chain. - By owning the diagnostic services, Proactive MD can more tightly integrate them into its value-based care model, which focuses on improving outcomes while controlling costs. This contrasts with the traditional fee-for-service model, where incentives are based on the volume of scans performed. - Proactive MD's strategy involves vertical integration beyond imaging; since 2021, the company has been acquiring clinical labs, pathology groups, and pharmacy services. This positions it as one of the only national primary care providers to own and operate this wide array of services directly, aiming to manage the entire patient journey and associated costs. - The global diagnostic imaging services market was valued at approximately $705 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.62% through 2035. The expansion of outpatient facilities is a key driver of this growth.
