LOS ANGELES, March 28, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RadNet, Inc. (Nasdaq:RDNT) and Barnabas Health today announced the formation of a multi-faceted Joint Venture to pursue opportunities in diagnostic imaging and related businesses within New Jersey.
The Joint Venture, to begin operations this summer, was formed to achieve several objectives. First, the Joint Venture will establish a statewide diagnostic imaging network. The Joint Venture will contract exclusively on behalf of its imaging network with regional payors, including commercial insurance companies, utilization and radiology benefit managers, workers compensation carriers and all other health plans and local insurers. The Joint Venture will initially have 37 patient access points across the state of New Jersey, and it intends to rapidly expand its access points through the acquisition of existing centers, development of new centers or through contracting with third-party imaging providers.
In addition to establishing a statewide network, the Joint Venture will provide management services to the existing RadNet and Barnabas imaging facilities in New Jersey to include, among other functions, information technology, marketing, utilization review, billing and collecting, transcription, medical records management, equipment maintenance, purchasing and insurance. The Joint Venture is designed to capture efficiencies resulting from implementing best practices across all of the networked imaging facilities, with the ultimate objective of reducing costs and improving quality of service and patient care. The Joint Venture will also benefit from increased purchasing power resulting from its larger scale. In addition, it is anticipated that the Joint Venture can expand its management and contracting services to include third-party imaging centers and inpatient hospital radiology departments in the future.
Lastly, the Joint Venture was also formed to pursue new business opportunities. These opportunities could include medical oncology, comprehensive breast disease management (such as RadNet's California BreastLink operations), teleradiology, information technology and clinical trials work.
Dr. Howard Berger, President and Chief Executive Officer of RadNet, commented, "We are very pleased to announce our new relationship with Barnabas Health. With the advent of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), whose goal it is to improve integration among healthcare providers, our venture is an important step towards delivering a fully integrated imaging network that provides convenient, high quality, cost effective and patient centric medical imaging solutions for the medical communities of New Jersey. Barnabas Health is a premier hospital system in New Jersey. By combining its existing market presence with RadNet's expertise and existing New Jersey outpatient imaging centers, we are convinced that our collaboration will drive benefits to patient care. In the process, we believe that improving patient care will inure financial benefits to both RadNet and Barnabas Health."
Barry H. Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of Barnabas Health, stated, "Forming a Joint Venture with RadNet, an experienced leader in the field of diagnostic imaging, provides an exciting opportunity for Barnabas Health and the two million patients we serve annually. Our core values embrace high quality services, cost effectiveness and patient satisfaction. We have built our national reputation on providing best practices in medicine with the focus on ensuring patient access in urban and suburban, inpatient and outpatient settings. The Joint Venture with RadNet further strengthens our mission of providing the finest healthcare for all."
About RadNet, Inc.
RadNet, Inc. is the largest national provider of high-quality, cost-effective fixed-site diagnostic imaging services in the United States through a network of 233 owned and/or operated outpatient imaging centers (inclusive of 20 facilities held in Joint Ventures). RadNet's core markets include California, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. Together with affiliated radiologists, and inclusive of full-time and per diem employees and technicians, RadNet has a total of approximately 6,300 employees. For more information, visit www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/ctr%3Fd=173648%26amp;l=4%26amp;u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.radnet.com" target="_top" rel="nofollow">http://www.radnet.com.
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About Barnabas Health.
Barnabas Health is the largest not-for-profit integrated healthcare delivery system in New Jersey and one of the largest in the nation, annually caring for more than two million patients and delivering more than 18,000 babies. The system includes six acute care hospitals, two children's hospitals, a free-standing behavioral health center, ambulatory care centers, geriatric centers, the state's largest behavioral health network and comprehensive homecare and hospice programs. Among nationally recognized services are burn treatment; adult and pediatric cardiac surgery; heart, lung, kidney and pancreas transplant; neurology and neurosurgery; reproductive medicine and science; geriatrics; oncology; pediatrics; and women's services. Barnabas Health includes 18,200 employees, (the second largest private employer in New Jersey); 4,600 physicians (one-fifth of the actively practicing physicians in New Jersey); and 445 residents and interns. For more information, log on to the web site at www.barnabashealth.org.