Vancouver-based PeaceHealth announced Tuesday it acquired Portland-based ZOOM+Care, which provides on-demand retail and digital care through the internet and neighborhood clinics.
PeaceHealth and Zoom declined to disclose any details of the sale. The acquisition is expected to close Dec. 31. Zoom has 37 clinics in Oregon and Washington. There are two clinics in Vancouver and about 25 in Portland. The other locations are in Salem, Ore., and the Seattle area.
“We are looking to be as innovative as possible, and meet the market where the market is at, and look at innovation as it’s applied to creating affordable access for our community to care in ways that are meaningful to touch those communities in the ways they want to touch health care,” said Mike Dwyer, PeaceHealth’s executive vice president.
Dwyer explained the purchase will not alter the structure of either company, saying, “We think we are very complementary to each other. This is not something that is going to change PeaceHealth one way, or change Zoom in another way. But really we think provide choice in the marketplace for the communities that we serve.”
Zoom, which was founded in 2006, will keep its own brand name with its own leadership and board of directors. Dr. Dave Sanders, Zoom’s co-founder and CEO, added the company will retain its nearly 425 employees.
Dwyer said PeaceHealth decided to acquire Zoom mostly because of its innovative, technologically based approach to health care combined with easy access to neighborhood clinics. Patients can schedule same-day appointments at Zoom locations on their phone or computer and chat with doctors online.
Zoom provides primary and specialty care, as well as vaccinations, prescriptions and lab testing. Sanders said the Zoom approach has been popular with ages 18 through 45, which makes up about three-quarters of Zoom’s patients. However, Sanders said the patient base is adjusting, and Zoom is becoming more mainstream.
“We believe that all consumers, all ages, all walks of life are seeking to control their schedules, their appointments, their times, their messages through their mobile phone,” Sanders said. “I think the reason why PeaceHealth made this investment is that they saw that coming, and they saw Zoom as a vanguard of that movement.”
Dwyer added that PeaceHealth made the acquisition with the shifting health care landscape in mind. That included how younger people are going to prefer to access health care.
“It’s reflecting where society is going,” Dwyer said. “We’ve got to be able to deliver care in meaningful ways the way people want to receive it. Care over an application-based platform, a digital-based platform, home health care. All of these things are really going to be driven in ways that create greater access, lower cost, and get people the care that they need when they need it. For us, that segmentation is something that we’re trying to address. The 65-year-old wants to touch health care differently than the 19-year-old. We want to be prepared for that and allow for more people to participate and gain access than not.”
Sanders and Dwyer said the acquisition will lead to Zoom expansion in the current Zoom markets, and possibly even into new states — though they declined to discuss specific details of those possible expansions at the moment.
They also said the acquisition should lead to more affordable care from Zoom. Dwyer mentioned that with Zoom, cost is something that can be measured in more than just transitional ways. When it’s easier to schedule appointments, and get care, there’s value in that, Dwyer said.
“It’s not just the cost of dollars and cents, which is important, but it’s also the cost of wear and tear,” Dwyer said. “If you’re a single mom, you can’t be taking out three hours of your day to go and get health care. We need to be able to go and get you out and provide excellent care and give you that choice. That cost is broader than just a dollar-and-cents issue.”
