MedCath Corporation was an American cardiac health care company,

publicly In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

traded on the NASDAQ. The company was founded in 1988 as MedCath Partners, a for-profit corporation which offered

cath lab A catheterization laboratory, commonly referred to as a cath lab, is an examination room in a hospital or clinic with diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualize the arteries of the heart and the chambers of the heart and treat any stenosis ...

, nuclear cardiology, and

sleep medicine Sleep medicine is a medical specialty or subspecialty devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of sleep disturbances and disorders. From the middle of the 20th century, research has provided increasing knowledge and answered many questions about ...

services. By 1998, the firm was known as Medcath, Inc. In 1994, the company began opening and operating

acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acce ...

cardiac hospitals. In the early months of 2005, MedCath significantly shifted its corporate strategy. Instead of building cardiac hospitals and seeking physicians to invest in them, MedCath began partnering with existing hospitals or health care systems to expand existing cardiac care units or build new cardiac care units in existing hospitals.London, Ashley M. "MedCath's Shift in Strategy Is What the Doctor Ordered." ''Charlotte Business Journal.'' September 18, 2006. The strategy proved highly popular with stockholders, and the company stock price rose to $31.80 in September 2006 from a low of $14 a share in May 2006. Industry observers credited the shift in strategy to the company's chief executive officer, O. Edwin French, who took over leadership of MedCath in February 2006 (he'd previously been president of the acute care hospital division of

Universal Health Services Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) is an American Fortune 500 company that provides hospital and healthcare services, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. In 2021, its annual revenues were $12.6 billion. Company history Alan B. Miller, ...

). French hired Phil Mazzuca (formerly with Iasis Healthcare) as chief operating officer. On May 5, 2011, in a deal worth $25 million, MedCath sold most of its assets to a joint venture of

LifePoint Hospitals LifePoint Health is an American company that provides healthcare services in growing regions, rural communities and small towns. It was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. As of November 16, 2018, it operated 89 hosp ...

and

Duke University Health System The Duke University Health System combines the Duke University School of Medicine, the Duke University School of Nursing, the Duke Clinic, and the member hospitals into a system of research, clinical care, and education. Member hospitals Duke ...

. In September 2012, facing a lawsuit, MedCath dissolved the company.

References

{{authority control Health care companies based in North Carolina Hospital networks in the United States American companies established in 1988 1988 establishments in North Carolina