IPC The Hospitalist Company Acquires South Texas P

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 14, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: IPCM ), a leading national hospitalist physician group practice company, announced today that it has acquired the assets of three affiliated hospitalist entities in South Texas: THG The Hospitalist Group LP, The Hospitalist Management Group, LLC, and MD @ Home Ltd., (collectively known as THG). Headquartered in Mission, Texas, THG operates in acute care hospitals and post-acute care facilities throughout the Rio Grande Valley communities of Mission, Edinburg and McAllen. This transaction represents a further expansion for IPC in the South Texas market where the Company has an established presence.

IPC's President and Chief Operating Officer R. Jeffrey Taylor commented, "We are pleased with the development of our South Texas practice since we initially entered the market via acquisition of a leading local group about a year ago. Shortly after commencing business in the market, we realized there was an opportunity to further improve operating efficiencies and consistency of care in the market by combining forces with THG. Together we share a commitment to provide more effective quality of care and service to patients and facilities in the Rio Grande Valley."

THG was founded in 2005 by principal owners Richard Fleming, M.D., Ivan Melendez, M.D. and Oscar Mendez, M.D., who will all continue with the practice under IPC. Commenting on the transaction, Dr. Fleming stated, "Over the past year we have worked side by side with the IPC physicians in several facilities where we both practice. This has given us the opportunity to observe IPC's capabilities and assess its potential value to our practice. Based on that assessment, we agreed that this combination will ultimately offer better coverage, improved clinical communication, and an overall higher level of quality care."  

The THG acquisition is expected to generate approximately 85,000 acute patient encounters on an annualized basis.

About IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc.

IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: IPCM ) is a leading physician group practice company focused on the delivery of hospitalist medicine and related facility-based services. IPC's physicians and affiliated providers practice in over 350 hospitals and 800 post-acute care facilities in 28 states. The Company offers its 1,400 dedicated clinicians the comprehensive training, information technology, and management support systems necessary to improve the quality and reduce the cost of patient care in the facilities it serves. For more information, visit the IPC website at www.hospitalist.com .

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