PENSACOLA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emergency Care Partners, a leading regional provider of emergency medicine and outsourced emergency department management services to hospital facilities across Louisiana, New York, and Pennsylvania, today announced the completion of a strategic merger with Illinois Emergency Medicine Specialists (“IEMS”), a Chicago-based provider of outsourced emergency department management services in Illinois.

Bill Yarbrough, CEO of Emergency Care Partners stated, “We are very excited to welcome IEMS as a member group of ECP. Their long history together as physician partners and the strength of their local health system relationships makes them an ideal addition to our national group.”

The combined emergency medicine platform will service departmental operations at 26 hospitals, supported by a combined clinical workforce of 600 physicians and mid-level providers, treating approximately 900,000 ER patient visits annually. IEMS’s physician partners will join as ECP shareholders and Ted Patras, M.D. will continue to serve as President of IEMS.

Dr. Patras commented, “We are excited about joining the ECP team. This new partnership allows us to bring enhanced efficiencies and deliver the best quality outcomes and patient experiences for the entire health system.”

In terms of strategy, the combined business will continue its service-intensive approach to managing small- and medium-sized emergency departments, leveraging ECP’s unique business model that combines local physician equity partnerships and its differentiated technology platform to ensure local service accountability and care quality at each ECP facility served. Further, ECP’s physicians, including legacy physician partners, continue to serve as meaningful shareholders in the combined company.

ECP is backed by Varsity Healthcare Partners (“VHP”), a lower middle-market healthcare services private equity investment firm with expertise in growing care provider platforms, along with Regal Healthcare Capital Partners, a New York-based healthcare services growth equity and buyout firm.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP acted as legal adviser to ECP and VHP, while Nexus Health Capital and Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP acted as financial and legal advisors to IEMS.

About Emergency Care Partners

Based in Pensacola, Florida, Emergency Care Partners is a leading regional provider of emergency medicine and emergency department management services to hospitals and other free-standing care facilities. The company was initially formed through the joint recapitalization of Professional Emergency Medicine Management (“PEMM”) and Professional Emergency Physicians Associates (“PEPA”), both Louisiana-based, clinically differentiated emergency medicine providers, and owned at inception by Varsity Healthcare Partners, in partnership with PEMM’s/PEPA’s founders and partner physicians. Subsequently, ECP expanded its geographic footprint by partnering with two additional groups: 1) Progressive Emergency Physicians (“PEP”), a leading Long Island, New York-based provider of outsourced emergency department management services to facilities across New York and Pennsylvania, and; 2) Ascension Emergency Physicians, based in Gonzales, Louisiana and serving Our Lady of the Lake Ascension Hospital.

About Varsity Healthcare Partners

Varsity Healthcare Partners is a lower middle-market private equity investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs and management teams to build leading healthcare services companies. VHP has been successful in developing and executing a tailored value-creation plan, in partnership with the leadership of each company that typically emphasizes investments in infrastructure followed by an aggressive organic and acquisition growth strategy. VHP draws upon its extensive healthcare industry experience and relationships, as well as its hands-on partnership approach to effectively drive growth and maximize value. For more information please visit: www.varsityhealthcarepartners.com.

About Regal Healthcare Capital Partners

Regal Healthcare Capital Partners is a lower middle-market focused growth equity and buyout firm which seeks to partner with leading edge healthcare entrepreneurs who are in need of financial investment and strategic, operational and managerial expertise. Regal’s Co-Founders, Dr. David Kim and Jon Santemma, bring a unique combination of operational and transactional experience to healthcare services companies seeking to realize their growth potential. For more information, please visit: www.regalhcp.com.