radiology
Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...
firm. The company operates
outpatient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...
diagnostic imaging centers. RadNet is the largest provider of outpatient imaging services in the United States.
History
RadNet was founded in 1981 as a small imaging center in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. The nascent company was concerned with providing billing and administrative services to large medical care providers, with the initial RadNet imaging center being located near
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...
.
In 1992 the company was bought by Primedex Health Systems, a California-based management company that catered to small medical clinics. In addition, much of Primedex's business was focused around dealing with
workers' compensation
Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...
claims. At the time of Primedex's acquisition of RadNet, the larger company was going through a period of rapid expansion; however, this growth was cut short in 1993 when the
State of California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
implemented statuary changes to the way workers' compensation was managed. The changes made by California forced Primedex to switch its business focus, resulting in more funding being allocated for other services. Many of the company's new initiatives were centered around diagnostic imaging services, which were managed by RadNet. This growth within the greater Primedex conglomerate resulted in RadNet gaining considerable influence. By the end of the 1990s, RadNet had replaced effectively Primedex as the parent company, with many of Primedex's assets being folded into subsidiaries of RadNet.
In the early 2000s RadNet began a period of business expansion by acquiring smaller radiology firms and incorporating said firm's practice into RadNet's growing list of assets. The company repurchased its debt in 2005 and in 2006 worked with
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
to secure a $450 million syndicated loan with which to continue its corporate acquisitions. 2006 also saw RadNet and Primedex split their stock, resulting in RadNet becoming the official parent company and Primedex becoming a subsidiary.
RadNet joined the S&P 600 in November 2019, replacing American newspaper provider
Gannett Co
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.healthcare networks. RadNet also moved to acquire DeepHealth, a machine learning firm working to develop radiology artificial intelligence.