Mednax Collaborates With Northern Indiana Neonatal Associates

MEDNAX, Inc. (NYSE:MD) recently entered into an agreement with Northern Indiana Neonatal Associates (“NINA”) P.C., which is a private neonatology practice located in Fort Wayne, IN. The transaction was made in cash and is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.

NINA has been providing advanced neonatal services for more than 20 years in Northeast Indiana. It includes six physicians and delivers the aforementioned services at Dupont Hospital, Lutheran Hospital and Marion General Hospital. It should be noted that it proved its efficiency back in 2014, when it was the first to enforce therapeutic cooling for newborn hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in the Tri-State area. Moreover, certain practice members also tie up with the Indiana State Department of Health to decrease infant mortality cases.

Alignment with this practice will enhance the portfolio of services that Mednax offers in the region with the help of its chain of affiliated physicians across various specialties including anesthesiology, maternal-fetal medicine, neonatology, newborn hearing screen and radiology.

Meanwhile, NINA will be able to gain traction from Mednax’s knowhow in the concerned field. NINA is believed to be able to reduce the challenges it has been facing. Through this collaboration, the practice is expected to enhance its services provided for its patients.

Mednax’s allied physician practices dole out these services in more than 400 Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) across 36 US states and Puerto Rico.

The company has been actively looking to expand its neonatal practices. This business line witnessed volume growth in the last reported quarter on higher admission in NICUs. In 2018 and the first half of 2019, it acquired two neonatology and one neonatology physician group practices. In March 2019, Mednax announced its affiliation to Georgia Neonatology, LLC, a private neonatology practice in Athens, GA. We believe that all these initiatives poise this business line well for growth.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have plunged 55.5% in a year’s time, wider than its industry’s decline of 12.7%.

Key Picks

Investors interested in the medical sector can take a look at some better-ranked stocks like UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) , Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE:UHS) and Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

UnitedHealth Group works as a diversified health care company. In the trailing four quarters, it came up with average beat of 3.4%.

Universal Health owns and operates acute care hospitals, outpatient facilities and behavioral health care facilities. In the last four quarters, the company delivered average beat of 4.5%.

Molina Healthcare is a multi-state healthcare organization. In the trailing four quarters, the company pulled off average beat of 66.93%.

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