BLOG: Distributors dive into ophthalmology practice management
Key takeaways:
- There is a new trend of medical supply distributors acquiring specialty provider platforms.
- This suggests that suppliers, distributors and retailers are interested in owning or managing customer operations.
2025 has barely begun, but it has already been an eventful year for large ophthalmology practice platforms and large medical supply distributors.
In early January, the company formerly known as AmerisourceBergen, which owns and operates Besse Medical, purchased Retina Consultants of America, and in early February, McKesson purchased PRISM Vision, signaling that distributors are ready to cement their expansive vertical integration strategies in the specialty provider space.
On Jan. 2, the company formerly known as Amerisource Bergen, now Cencora, Inc. following an August 2023 rebranding, announced it had acquired 85% of Retina Consultants of America (RCA), a leading management service organization of retina specialist practices, for $4.6 billion in cash and up to $500 million in additional contingent payments. Certain RCA physicians and members of the management team retained a minority equity interest in the company. Cencora acquired RCA from Webster Equity Partners, a private equity firm. At the time of the acquisition, RCA managed practices in 23 states and represented more than 300 retina specialists; its practices conducted more than 2 million annual patient encounters.
Additionally, on Feb. 4, McKesson Corporation announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in PRISM Vision Holdings, LLC, a general ophthalmology and retina specialty provider platform managing 84 provider locations exclusively on the East Coast at the time of the announcement. McKesson, which is acquiring PRISM Vision from Quad-C, a private equity firm, will purchase an 80% interest for approximately $850 million, according to a press release, while physicians at PRISM Vision will retain a 20% interest in PRISM Vision.
Vertical integration has been a major force in health care for years but has more typically been limited to combinations of hospitals, physician groups and independent physicians into a single health care network. This new trend of medical supply distributors acquiring specialty provider platforms exemplifies the next frontier of health care consolidation, in which suppliers, distributors and retailers seem to be interested in owning or managing the operations of their customers.
Federal regulators at the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have, in the past, evaluated integrations like these (between two noncompeting companies, one of which provides a necessary input for the product or service offered by the other) more favorably than certain other kinds of mergers and acquisitions, reasoning that vertical integration may have the potential to generate economic efficiencies. However, recent changes to written guidance (such as updates to FTC and DOJ merger guidelines issued in 2023) and intense scrutiny of health care consolidation trends by federal and state lawmakers may indicate a shift in policy priorities. Additionally, it remains to be seen how the Trump administration will view these trends.
References:
- Cencora advances specialty leadership through acquisition of Retina Consultants of America. https://www.retinaconsultantsofamerica.com/blog/cencora-advances-specialty-leadership-through-acquisition-of-retina-consultants-of-america. Published March 6, 2025. Accessed March 10, 2025.
- Cencora completes acquisition of Retina Consultants of America. https://investor.cencora.com/news/news-details/2025/Cencora-Completes-Acquisition-of-Retina-Consultants-of-America/default.aspx. Published Jan. 2, 2025. Accessed March 10, 2025.
- McKesson advances specialty leadership; signs agreement to acquire controlling interest in PRISM Vision Holdings, LLC. https://investor.mckesson.com/news/financial-news/2025/McKesson-Advances-Specialty-Leadership-Signs-Agreement-to-Acquire-Controlling-Interest-in-PRISM-Vision-Holdings-LLC/default.aspx. Published Feb. 4, 2025. Accessed March 10, 2025.
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