DaVita Inc. is an American healthcare company. It is best known as one of the largest kidney care providers in the United States. Originally named Total Renal Care, the company was restructured as DaVita by CEO Kent Thiry in 1999. DaVita is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and its subsidiaries operate a network of 2,510 dialysis centers across the United States and 237 dialysis centers in 11 other countries.
The company provides a variety of services including in-center hemodialysis, in-center nocturnal dialysis, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis, vascular access management, chronic kidney disease education, and renal diet assistance. DaVita holds subsidiaries under two divisions, DaVita Clinical Research and DaVita Kidney Care. The company ranked number 181 on the Fortune 500 in 2017, which was its 11th year to be ranked. It has been on Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies for 10 consecutive years.
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History
In 1999, Kent Thiry was named CEO of DaVita, then known as Total Renal Care (TRC), when it was almost bankrupt. At that time, the company revenue was $1.4 billion with $56 million in losses. Thiry led the company's restructure and the company was renamed DaVita, from the Italian phrase meaning "he or she who gives life." By 2010, the company revenue hit $5.7 billion with a net income of $374 million. DaVita was featured as a Harvard Business School case.
DaVita acquired the U.S. based-dialysis operations of Gambro in 2004. The merger added approximately 565 dialysis centers to DaVita, which nearly doubled the company's size. In 2012, DaVita acquired Healthcare Partners, an owner of physician groups based in California.
In 2017, the federal government agreed to pay DaVita $538 million to settle allegations that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs underpaid for dialysis services to veterans between 2005 and 2011. DaVita completed the acquisition of Renal Ventures Management in May 2017, following the divestment of seven dialysis centers across New Jersey and Texas. After the divestment, the acquisition added thirty-one dialysis centers across six states. In December 2017, the company announced that it was selling its physician network, DaVita Medical Group, to the health services company, Optum, for $4.9 billion.
Subsidiaries
DaVita operates its subsidiaries and partnerships under two main divisions, DaVita Clinical Research and DaVita Kidney Care. The company reached an agreement to sell a separate operating arm, DaVita Medical Group to a division of United Healthcare in December 2017.
- DaVita Clinical Research: A wholly owned subsidiary of DaVita with trial sites in North America, Europe, and Latin America, specializing in conducting Phase I and II studies while managing trial sites that operate Phase II-IV trials.
- DaVita Kidney Care: One of the largest providers of kidney care in the United States that provides dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and late stage renal disease. The division operates the company's dialysis and related lab services in the United States, as well as international operations, administrative support and strategic initiatives.
- DaVita Rx: The division operates as a full-service pharmacy for patients with kidney disease nationwide.
- DaVita Labs: Previously known as DVA Laboratory Services, the division is a diagnostic laboratory for dialysis organizations and physician practices.
- Paladina Health: The division operates as an employer-sponsored primary care provider that helps employees to manage the costs of healthcare.
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Corporate affairs
In May 2009, DaVita announced it would move its corporate headquarters from El Segundo, California, to Denver. A temporary headquarters that houses more than 300 DaVita employees was leased at 1551 Wewatta Street in Denver's Lower Downtown (LoDo, Denver) district. In July 2010, DaVita announced it would be building its permanent headquarters adjacent to the Denver Millennium Bridge in LoDo. The new 270,000-square-foot building was completed in 2012 and can house upwards of 900 employees. To accommodate growth while awaiting its new headquarters, DaVita leased a second temporary workspace on 16th Street and Market Street in June 2011.
DaVita chose to relocate to Denver for a variety of reasons including the city's central location, diverse talent pool, accessibility to mass transit, affordable cost of living, welcoming community and outstanding quality of life. According to company chairman Kent Thiry, "DaVita was looking for two equally important things in its new home. Number one, that we find an environment that was good for the company to pursue its business. Number two, that we find an environment where our people could live great lives."
In late 2015 DaVita announced it was expanding into and would be the primary tenant within a new 19-story office building, to be called 16 Chestnut, directly across 16th Street from the current headquarters. Groundbreaking for 16 Chestnut occurred in June 2016 with a completion anticipated for mid to late 2018.
Sustainability
In 2010, DaVita opened the first LEED-certified dialysis center in the U.S., and is currently seeking LEED Gold certification for its new headquarters being built in Denver. DaVita has initiated several sustainability programs to reduce the company footprint, and was the only kidney care company recognized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Newsweek magazine for its sustainability initiatives.
Recognition
In 2011, DaVita was recognized as ColoradoBiz's top company, as well as one of the top companies to work for in Colorado. It was also ranked on Training Magazine's Top 125 that year, and was named to the list through 2017.
Philanthropy
DaVita works in conjunction with many organizations to raise awareness of chronic kidney disease.
Tour DaVita is an annual three-day, 250-mile bike ride to raise awareness of and funds for the fight against kidney disease. The fifth annual Tour DaVita was held Sept. 17 - Sept. 20 in Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. In 2011, Tour DaVita raised $700,000 for the Kidney TRUST.
Bridge of Life--DaVita Medical Missions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by DaVita that provides treatment, education and care to CKD patients in developing countries. Bridge of Life has completed 18 missions, bringing dialysis services to Cameroon, India, Ecuador, Guatemala and the Philippines.
In 2011, the company introduced the DaVita Way of Giving campaign for its employees. The program makes donations to local nonprofits based on the employee feedback. Since 2011, the DaVita Way of Giving program has donated nearly $9.1 million and in 2017 the program donated $2.2 million to U.S. charities.
Controversies
Department of Justice Lawsuit
In 2009, DaVita was accused of improperly compensating physicians groups through joint venture agreements to receive patient referrals to its dialysis clinics. This resulted in a $350 million False Claims Act lawsuit settlement. The company paid an additional $39 million in a civil forfeiture related to two specific joint ventures in Denver.
In November 2012, DaVita was accused of wasting medicines to overbill Medicare and Medicaid to increase its revenue from 2003 to 2010. The company denied the allegations, which resulted in a $450 million whistleblower (qui tam) lawsuit settlement.
In 2015 and 2016, DaVita self-identified and self-disclosed historical practices in its Rx subsidiary related to returned medications and patient programs. In 2017, DaVita settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $63.7 million, $22.2 million of which DaVita voluntarily refunded prior to the settlement.
According to the Denver Post, DaVita has paid nearly $1 billion to settle whistle-blower lawsuits.
Dialysis Insurance Steering
In October 2016, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that DaVita had been steering low income dialysis patients to purchase unneeded private medical insurance. Patients were told their private insurance premiums would be subsidized by the American Kidney Fund at no cost to the patient.
See also
- Kimberly Clark Saenz
References
External links
- About DaVita
- John Oliver on Davita YouTube video
Source of article : Wikipedia
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