Echo Health Ventures is establishing a local presence in Tennessee led by Echo Health Advisors principal Hayley Hovious, who joined the company in March following seven years as president of the Nashville Health Care Council.
Echo CEO Rob Coppedge, a Tennessee native, says the Nashville presence is a major milestone toward the company’s mission to drive innovation to improve health outcomes, leading the way toward better health for the communities served by four Blues health plans that form the Echo Innovation Alliance.
The alliance includes Cambia Health Solutions and Mosaic Health Solutions, which partnered to create Echo Health Ventures in 2016; USAble Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which joined the alliance in 2021; and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, which became an alliance member earlier this year. Collectively, the four enterprises cover more than 10 million members and diverse geographies in seven states.
There are more than 25 companies in Echo’s growing portfolio of innovative health care technology and services companies, including a recent investment in Nashville-based Embold Health, a physician-led health care analytics company.
Echo continues to be a sought-after strategic investor because of its platform and engagement model.
With the addition of its Tennessee location, Echo now operates in six states including Oregon, North Carolina, Arkansas, Washington and Massachusetts.
Tivity Health to be acquired by Stone Point
Nashville’s Tivity Health has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds managed by Stone Point Capital.
Under the terms of the agreement, Tivity Health stockholders will receive $32.50 in cash per share, representing a total transaction value of $2.0 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Tivity will become a privately held company, and its common stock will no longer be traded on Nasdaq.
Chuck Davis, CEO of Stone Point, says, “We have followed Tivity Health’s success for many years and have admired the positive impact it has had on the health and well-being of seniors who participate in its programs. We believe that the company is well positioned to leverage its market leading SilverSneakers brand to capitalize on attractive secular tailwinds.’’
The $32.50 in cash per share to be received by Tivity Health stockholders represents a 20% premium to the 90-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) ending April 4. Fully committed debt financing has been obtained and the transaction is not subject to a financing condition.
Reimagine partners with Colorado medical facility
Reimagine Care, a Nashville-based provider of technology-enabled services that supports oncologists, has announced collaboration with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to deliver care to bone marrow transplant patients.
The collaboration will leverage specialized clinical technology, advanced remote patient monitoring, and Reimagine Care’s Virtual Care Center to detect infections earlier and begin life-saving treatments faster to improve outcomes and enhance patient and caregiver experience.
BMT patients are especially vulnerable post-transplant as they have severely compromised immune systems. This population is not only at high risk of infection but also can deteriorate quickly if proactive care measures are not taken in a timely manner.
Often, infections are not detected or treated until they are relatively far along. This presents challenges for patients, families and clinicians and can lead to poor patient outcomes and costly emergency department visits and repeat hospitalizations.
These challenges prompted Reimagine Care and CU Anschutz to design a clinical trial to address this opportunity for patient care improvement.
Endeavor purchases magazine publisher
Nashville-based Endeavor Business Media has acquired Construction Business Media, LLC, publisher of Architectural Products and Architectural SSL magazines.
As leading publications serving the architectural design and construction communities, this acquisition highly complements Endeavor’s existing portfolio of brands serving the lighting, buildings and construction markets.
Architectural Products magazine works with hundreds of building product manufacturers to create and carry to market more vital product information than any other magazine serving the architectural design profession. Launched in 2003, it ranks among the top architectural titles as the “go-to” magazine for vetted product information and expertise.
Architectural SSL focuses on the development, application, specifications and design of LEDs and solid-state lighting throughout the built environment.
Boyd announces plans for 125th anniversary
Nashville’s R.H. Boyd, the oldest Black printing and publishing company in the country, will host the Legacy Ball June 17, in celebration of the company’s 125th anniversary.
The inaugural ball will take place at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown Hotel in Nashville, in conjunction with the Vision Conference, the company’s annual leadership event.
The conference is presented in partnership with the National Baptist Congress, a 116-year-old consortium of churches and organizations focused on Christian education and leadership.
Proceeds from the Legacy Ball will benefit the R.H. Boyd Family Endowment Fund, through R.H. Boyd Company (a 501(c)(3) organization), which provides scholarships and grants to make investments in students and communities nationwide.
R.H. Boyd was founded in 1896 by Dr. Richard Henry Boyd to produce resources that give a voice to the Black experience.
Hamilton Zane buys Clarksville’s Kirkwood Pl.
San Francisco-based real estate firm Hamilton Zanze has acquired the 264-unit Kirkwood Place in Clarksville.
The Kirkland Company represented the seller on this transaction. This represents HZ’s ninth acquisition in Tennessee and first in the Clarksville metro.
The property, built in 2020, is located 9.8 miles from Downtown Clarksville and 45 miles from Downtown Nashville. Hamilton Zanze purchased this property off-market through a local broker relationship.
The community is located at 2934 Dunlop Lane in the Clarksville-Hopkinsville metro area. The 264 units average 1,021 square feet with five different floor plans.
HZ’s capital improvements will include site improvements, building repairs, amenity improvements and mechanical, electrical and plumbing improvements. Management of the property has also been transitioned to HZ affiliate Mission Rock Residential, a Denver-based company.
Dreamstime unveils LicenseGuard tool
Nashville-based Dreamstime, photo licensing and stock photo community, has announced the launch of its proprietary copyright tracking tool, LicenseGuard.
The tool will monitor, detect and flag potentially unlicensed usages of the agency’s visual content across the internet, using AI-powered scanning technology, advanced visual recognition algorithms, and human review.
LicenseGuard includes cease and desist mechanisms and post-usage options, allowing Dreamstime’s contributors and copyright notice recipients to resolve claims quickly and fairly.
“LicenseGuard is designed to safeguard the copyright of content creators and motivate image users to follow industry-accepted ethical practices,’’ says CEO Serban Enache.
The tool checks and matches images in Dreamstime’s library across the web, so all the agency’s contributors benefit from this tool for free and without specific enrollment.
Dreamstime currently hosts and markets 185 million images for approximately 875,000 contributors, thus making it the most extensive database for copyright tracking.
S2 partners with softball consulting company
Nashville’s S2 Cognition, a sports-science company, has formalized a partnership with High & Inside, a data-driven player development, data insight and scouting consulting company that works with elite softball players and programs.
As experts in cognitive science, S2 Cognition is leading the future of sports with its cutting-edge 30 to 45-minute cognitive evaluation that measures and quantifies how athletes process what they see with their eyes, make decisions based on that visual input and their ability to act on that information on the field of play with millisecond-level precision.
The S2 Eval is being used at the highest levels of collegiate athletics by teams in every major conference, and in professional sports by Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, and MLS.
Change, Optum extend merger pact
Change HealthCare of Nashville and Optum, a diversified health services company, have agreed to extend their merger agreement to Dec. 31.
In a joint statement, the companies said: “The extended agreement reflects our firm belief in the potential of our combination to improve health care, and in our commitment to contesting the meritless legal challenge to this merger.”
The combination of Optum and Change Healthcare will connect and simplify the core clinical, administrative and payment processes health care providers and payers depend on to serve patients.
Increasing efficiency and reducing friction will benefit the entire health system, resulting in lower costs and a better experience for all stakeholders.
Change Healthcare and Optum will detail the benefits of this combination at a two-week trial scheduled to begin Aug. 1. The U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to block the combination.
Montecito buys North Carolina office building
Nashville’s Montecito Medical, owner of medical office properties throughout the U.S., has completed the acquisition of a medical office building in the Charlotte suburb of Concord, North Carolina.
The 14,720 square-foot building is 100% occupied under long-term lease by Northeast Digestive Health center.
Northeast Digestive Health has served Cabarrus County and surrounding communities for 40 years. The practice provides a full range of consultative, diagnostic, treatment and procedural services for patients across the area.
In addition to the Concord property, which serves as its headquarters, the group maintains two other office locations elsewhere in Concord.