VillageMD Reportedly In Talks To Merge With Primary Care Provider Summit Health

Home-focused primary care provider — and key Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) investment target — VillageMD is said to be eyeing a potential merger with Summit Health.

The merger would value the combined companies at an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Chicago-based VillageMD, through its subsidiary Village Medical, provides primary care services across 22 markets to more than 1.6 million patients. Over the last couple years, Walgreens has invested billions into the company.

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Summit Health is a primary and specialty care provider that was formed by the 2019 merger of Summit Medical Group and CityMD. The organization has over 2,800 providers, 13,000 employees, and more than 370 locations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Oregon.

The companies are rumored to be in talks, and a potential agreement could be formed in the coming weeks. However, negotiations could still fail to result in a deal, a source told Bloomberg.

In 2020, Walgreens Boots Alliance and VillageMD unveiled a five-year expansion plan. Specifically, the partnership would open 500 to 700 Village Medical at Walgreens primary care clinics in more than 30 markets in the U.S., with plans to further expand after.

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At the time, Walgreens Boots Alliance also invested $1 billion into VillageMD. The following year, Walgreens Boots Alliance injected another $5.2 billion into the company.

With the firepower of Walgreens Boots Alliance, it’s no doubt that VillageMD is one of the most prominent home-focused primary care providers in the country. A merger with Summit Health would likely take the organization to even greater heights, especially at a time when there is immense need for more access to primary care.

For context, the U.S. falls behind when it comes to primary care access. Adults in the U.S. often don’t have a regular physician, place of care, or a longstanding relationship with a primary care provider, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund.

Moving primary care into the home is one strategy for addressing these access to care issues.

Additionally, a merger of this magnitude would further scale primary care services giving more individuals access to care.

“[VillageMD] has a huge desire to expand home-based primary care,” Dr. Thomas Cornwell – the senior medical director of Village Medical at Home, which is a part of VillageMD, said at Home Health Care News’ Capital+Strategy in March. “And so even though we’re a small part of it, we’re the ones that really target those high-cost patients where the greatest potential savings are, and we’re working with [home-based care providers] to do so.”

Aside from Walgreen Boots Alliance, primary care and home-based care seems to be top of mind at some of the biggest retail companies.

In September, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) announced it entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Signify Health (NYSE: SGFY) in an $8 billion deal. The company is reportedly in talks to acquire Cano Health.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) — which was also in the running to purchase Signify Health — has plans to buy primary care provider One Medical (Nasdaq: ONEM) for $3.9 billion.

Companies featured in this article:

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