IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: IPCM), the leading national hospitalist physician group practice company, announced today that it has acquired Premier Hospitalists, Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
The practice represents an annualized volume of approximately 20,000 patient encounters. The Premier physicians will join the existing IPC practice group in St. Louis, enabling the Company to provide broader coverage and higher quality of care to the facilities they currently serve.
R. Jeffrey Taylor, President and COO of IPC The Hospitalist Company, commented, "We are pleased that this well-established practice has chosen to join IPC. In an increasingly challenging and uncertain healthcare environment, we are seeing more and more local independent groups looking to partner with IPC as a means to further grow their practices. IPC has substantial resources, such as administrative support, information technology and growth capital, that enable the local hospitalist practice to remain strong and competitive."