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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Location
In May 2009, DaVita announced it would move its corporate headquarters from El Segundo, California, to Denver. In July 2010, DaVita announced it would build its permanent headquarters adjacent to the Denver Millennium Bridge in LoDo. The building was completed in 2012 and can house upwards of 900 employees. It was the first corporate build-to-suit project completed in the Denver business district in 35 years. In late 2015, DaVita announced it was expanding into a new 19-story office building, 16 Chestnut, directly across 16th Street from the current headquarters.
Sustainability
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.
In 2010, DaVita opened the first LEED-certified dialysis center in the U.S., and received LEED Platinum for its headquarters in 2016. The company's headquarters is also a Certified Green Business Partner by the Denver Department of Environmental Health. In 2015, it was named to ColoradoBiz Magazine's 2015 Top Green Companies in Colorado. In 2017, DaVita's headquarters was awarded Silver for its Environmental Leadership Program by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.
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 annual event takes place in a different location every year and raises money for non-profit initiatives. In 2017, the 11th annual Tour DaVita was expected to raise more than $1.2 million for Bridge of Life.
Bridge of Life is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides treatment, education and care to chronic kidney disease patients in developing countries. It 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.
Awards and 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.
In 2013, DaVita was given the Patient Safety Improvement Award at the Renal Physician Association's annual CathAway program meeting.
The company received two platinum awards from Dorland Health for its Patient Pathways and VillageHealth programs in 2014. That same year, DaVita was the recipient of the Healthcare Personnel Campaign Immunization Excellence Award at the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit.
DaVita was named one of the best employers for veterans by Military Times in 2016.
In 2017, DaVita was named one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies for the tenth consecutive year. Also in 2017, the company was named one of the top workplaces in Colorado by The Denver Post for the sixth consecutive year and one of the top 150 places to work in healthcare by Becker's Hospital Review. WorldBlu included DaVita on its list of Freedom-Centered Workplaces in 2017, including it on the list every year since 2008. DaVita was named a top military friendly employer by G.I. Jobs for the eighth year in 2017.
In 2018, DaVita was named an inaugural member of Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which measures gender equality through company statistics, employee policies, external community support and engagement and gender-conscious products. The company was one (of two total) health care organizations to be recognized.
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.
Reporting by Last Week Tonight
During the fifth season of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a story on for-profit dialysis companies was broadcast, which included DaVita itself.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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