Concentra, U.S. HealthWorks Join Forces in an Urgent Care/Occ Med Megadeal

Two major players in urgent care and occupational medicine are being joined together by their respective ownerships. Select Medical Holdings Corporation and Dignity Health have agreed on a definitive agreement to combine Concentra Group Holdings, LLC, an occupational medicine and urgent care service provider, with U.S. HealthWorks, Inc., which offers services in the same sectors. There is some geographical overlap, such as in the Milwaukee and Nashville markets, but locations are more complementary than they are redundant, and few facility closures are expected. While urgent care insiders expect the deal to go through without antitrust issues, given the size of the market, that doesn’t necessarily mean competition won’t suffer. A more extensive national footprint will solidify Concentra and U.S. HealthWorks’ dominance in national accounts. Consequently, urgent care providers that offer occupational medicine services could essentially get locked out of accounts with local businesses that are tied to larger companies who deal with Concentra and USHW nationally (eg, big box retailers, trucking companies, and airlines). That would reduce the number of viable prospects for occ med providers, leaving mainly small-to-midsize companies and mom-and-pop businesses in play. Assuming the deal does go through, Concentra will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of stock of U.S. HealthWorks from Dignity Health. Dignity Health will own a 20% equity interest in the combined entity holding Concentra and U.S. HealthWorks.