LLR Partners and Joseph Cashia Form Vivere Health LLC
October 11, 2010
Company to build premier chain of surgery centers focused on women’s health
LLR Partners and Joseph Cashia, the former founder and CEO of National Renal Alliance (NRA), have partnered with Dr. Jimmy Gill and Dr. Gus Haddad of The Houston Fertility Institute to create Vivere Health LLC. Vivere Health will partner with the nation’s leading physicians in the field of women’s health and fertility to develop in vitro fertility centers of excellence, which include ambulatory surgery centers and specialized laboratories.
“We are excited to be partnering with Joe and LLR,” says Dr. Gill. “We have always felt that our success in Houston could be a template for other doctors around the country. Through the formation of Vivere Health, we now have the financial backing and business experience necessary to realize our full potential.”
“It was evident to us that Dr. Gill and Dr. Haddad had created an exceptional service offering in Houston,” says David Stienes, Principal at LLR Partners. “We feel that the combination of the doctors’ vision and the proven leadership of Joe and his team will allow us to expand a unique business model to a national level.”
Vivere Health will be led by Cashia, who will serve as CEO and oversee all growth and operations. David Skelton, former CFO of NRA, and David Bradley, former Vice President of Development for NRA, will join Cashia on the company’s management team.
“Since the sale of NRA, I’ve been seeking another physician joint venture model,” says Cashia. “Our partnership with Dr. Gill and Dr. Haddad gives us the opportunity to leverage their success in Houston to other cities around the country. With the financial backing of LLR Partners, an experienced health care investor, we are poised for growth.”
Drs. Gill and Haddad will serve on the company’s board and continue to practice medicine in the clinic. Stienes and Scott Perricelli for LLR will join the board as well. Vivere Health is headquartered in Franklin, Tenn. Initial operations are located in Houston at Piney Point Surgical Center and Houston Fertility Laboratory. A second location recently opened in Austin, Texas.
About Vivere Health
Vivere Health partners with leading women’s health and fertility physicians to provide exceptional surgical, diagnostic, laboratory and other services to patients. Vivere Health’s surgery centers and laboratories focus almost exclusively on women’s health in order to provide the unique equipment and support services required by its physicians. The Company’s focus allows it to eliminate the scheduling problems, long wait times and cancellations which often arise in the hospital setting while providing a more comfortable and less institutional environment. Vivere Health is headquartered in Franklin, TN and operates ambulatory surgery centers and laboratories in Houston, TX and Austin, TX in partnership with local physicians. The Company plans to develop additional surgery centers and laboratories in select markets throughout the United States. For more information about Vivere, please visit www.viverehealth.com.