Partnership Alignment: The Woman’s Group and Femwell Group Health

Introduction

The Woman’s Group (TWG) is a leading, regionally dominant OB-GYN group that has served the Tampa, FL market for over 25 years. With nearly 30 providers across 4 locations, the Practice has established itself as the preeminent women’s health group in their core market. TWG’s managing partners, Drs. Madelyn Butler, Judy Barreiro, Irene Wahba and Jennifer Sanchez Russell have spearheaded the leadership and growth initiatives of the group. The Woman’s Group engaged Physician Growth Partners to explore the universe of women’s health private equity partners and ultimately decided to join forces with Femwell Group Health, a Southeast focused MSO backed by LightBay Capital.

Client Background

The Practice had explored the prospect of partnering with private equity on their own, having recognized they were at an inflection point in executing upon their growth strategies. TWG’s 20 shareholders were aligned to find a partner with expertise in the women’s health space and the vision to empower their well-established brand equity in the western Florida market. The group had identified a number of administrative functions that a partner could optimize and support, which guided their search. Above all, The Woman’s Group was focused on maintaining clinical autonomy and optimal patient outcomes.

Transaction Overview

PGP utilized a dual-pronged approach, including private equity sponsors and established platforms that had been in contact with TWG prior to our engagement in addition to several regional and national women’s health platforms. By leveraging a competitive process, PGP was able to provide TWG with a set of market clearing outcomes with favorable deal terms. Ultimately, the group received interest from 4+ parties and continued their diligence to arrive at the decision that Femwell would be the right fit from a strategic, economic and clinical care perspective. Femwell’s strong footprint in Florida and dedicated resources gave TWG confidence that they could successfully execute on the next phase of growth within the practice.

Outcome and Impact

The partnership between The Woman’s Group and Femwell has bolstered the broader platform’s footprint in Western Florida and added 30+ providers to their network. In the months following the transaction, The Woman’s Group benefited from Femwell’s resources by completing their full expansion of mammography across all locations and achieved significant income repair via purchasing power and optimizing revenue cycle. Additionally, Femwell has supported the practice’s recruiting component, having assistance in the recruitment of several providers. The Woman’s Group continues to build upon the successful practice alongside Femwell without sacrificing their clinical autonomy and patient-first brand.

Conclusion

For physicians looking for further assistance in the ever challenging livelihood of independent practice, a strategic partnership can help grow the practice by improving operations and aggregating scale and shared resources, while allowing the physician shareholders to focus on maintaining and improving patient care. This can translate to further growth and success for the practice, their patients and the community.

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