Matt Eakins, MD, CEO of Atria, said that the idea for this model was developed about four years ago when he was working with Cypress Ridge Capital, Atria’s private equity-backer. He and his team began thinking about what models or applications could be most effective in cardiology to support physicians and patients in an increasingly consolidated physician workforce.
“The things that were very important to us were about empowering physicians to deliver exceptional, patient-centered care,” he told Becker’s. “What we were looking to do is build something with cardiologists in a true collaborative model where we are not buying their practice, but instead we are helping them achieve the practice that they want.”
In 2022, Dr. Eakins met Adam Cohen, MD, president of Horsham, Pa.-based AMS Cardiology, a 40-year-old cardiovascular practice that includes 19 cardiologists and six nurse practitioners. Drs. Eakins and Cohen began working closely together to develop a model that would support the long-term growth of AMS’ independent practice while preserving their autonomy.
For Dr. Cohen, the partnership not only helps support AMS’ day-to-day operations, but has empowered the practice to take advantage of growth opportunities more readily and quickly than it would without a partner.
“We were looking at the future of healthcare and recognizing that there were opportunities in front of us that were really unique and time sensitive,” he said. “We were thinking that, while we might be able to take advantage of those things, they were probably going to take longer for us to do organically. They would be a bit riskier and might take a little more horsepower than we necessarily had within our practice structure at the time.”
However, given AMS’ strong relationships with both the community it serves as an independent business, the idea of selling the practice was a “non-starter.”
“The idea was that if we could harness some of the resources that a private equity entity could bring to the table without having to sell the practice, that would be threading the needle,” he added.
The key to the relationship is that while private equity is a financial backer of the practice through Atria, none of AMS’ physicians are employed by Atria. Dr. Cohen and his team still maintain total control over the operations of the practice.
“We make those decisions, but we also rely on and benefit from the insight, the experience and the resources that Atria can provide us to help us run our business better,” he said. “But they come in the way of suggestions, not mandates.”
In a recent culmination of the partnership, Atria and AMS were able to construct a new ASC for low-risk outpatient cardiac procedures, including diagnostic cardiac catheterizations and electrophysiologic procedures. The ASC was also the first in Pennsylvania to perform a coronary angioplasty with stent placement.
The partnership seeks to distinguish itself from both traditional private equity’s focus on acquisition, as well as temporary startup models.
“I think of Atria as living in the Goldilocks spot between those two,” Dr. Eakins said.
