Privia Health to Enter Washington State With Walla Walla Clinic
Under new CEO Parth Mehrotra, Privia Health Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PRVA), a national physician enablement company, has entered the State of Washington by partnering with Walla Walla Clinic, a multi-specialty practice with more than 50 providers in three locations.
“We are extremely pleased to partner with Walla Walla Clinic as we expand Privia’s West Coast presence and continue to execute our strategy of aligning with like-minded providers and practices to offer high-quality care to patients across the U.S.,” said Mehrotra, who succeeded Shawn Morris as CEO in July. “Walla Walla Clinic has a highly successful history over its decades of operation, and we look forward to continuing to build on its rich heritage of delivering high quality care in the community.”
Mehrotra previously served as the company’s president and chief operating officer. Morris is retiring and will remain on the company’s board of directors. Under Morris’ leadership since early 2018, Arlington, Va.-based Privia Health progressed from a private, regional organization into a publicly traded company with national reach. During that time, the company entered eight new states, completed a successful IPO in April 2021, and increased its implemented provider partners by more than 125 percent to over 3,600, the company said.
In a statement, Mark Haugen, M.D., president of the Walla Walla Clinic, explained why the partnership was attractive. “It was essential for us to find the right partner who shares our vision to help build a scaled provider network in Washington while improving access to and affordability of care in our community. We look forward to leveraging Privia Health’s industry expertise, robust technology and services platform, and physician-led governance structure to enable our practice and future provider partners to enhance patient care, reduce administrative burdens, and maintain local autonomy.”
Walla Walla Clinic will serve as the anchor practice for Privia Medical Group-Washington. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, and Walla Walla Clinic is expected to be implemented on the Privia Platform by the end of 2023.
Privia said it would leverage its data connectivity and population health expertise to enable care insights and collaboration to provide an alternative to Washington physicians to care for patients across all reimbursement models.
In the second quarter of 2023, Privia had total revenue of $413.4 million, compared to total revenue of $335.5 million for the prior year second quarter, up 23.2 percent. Net income for the second quarter of 2023 was $7.3 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to net loss of $(10.5) million, or $(0.10) per share, for the second quarter of 2022.
The company recently elected four new members to its board of directors. David S. Wichmann and Pamela O. Kimmet joined the board effective August 1, 2023. Wichmann served as CEO of UnitedHealth Group from 2017 to 2021, concluding a 23-year career at the company. The company said that Kimmet is a seasoned human resources executive with broad experience across the corporate landscape and extensive human capital expertise gained in businesses both in and out of healthcare.
Adam Boehler also joined the board. He is founder and Managing Partner of Rubicon Founders. He previously served as served as Senior Advisor for Value-based Transformation and Innovation to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Previously, he served as Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and as Director of the Innovation Center at CMS.
In addition, Parth Mehrotra joined the board effective July 1, 2023, the date he became the company’s CEO. Shawn Morris retired as CEO, but remains on the board.
