Smart VC, dumb VC

[Doormat]

I invite you all to visit Google and search for “Versant Diagnostics.” A VC outfit just purchased a couple of private pathology groups in the Midwest. Check out the press release. These dudes are bold. They want to be the largest pathology company in the US. I had many chuckles reading the website and press release from this new entity. Good luck transforming anatomic pathology in the United States of America in 2021. Looks to me like there is smart VC and dumb VC. Smart VC is buying up derm, ortho, GI, and other lucrative multispecialty clinical practices. The dumb VC is purchasing pathology practices.

Ask Japan’s Miraca about the Caris AP acquisition in 2011. They lost over $670 million and settled an OIG fraud claim for $63.5 million before unloading this dumpster fire to Avista Capital Partners. Ask Australia’s Sonic Healthcare how the investment in Aurora Diagnostics is going.

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[caffeinegirl]

Interesting bit of news - thanks for sharing. Looks like Keith Kaplan is part of the group, so I wouldn't count them out yet. Digital pathology is here to stay - whether they will meet the metrics the VC/PE firm is looking for is another story.

 

[deleted314957]

Interesting bit of news - thanks for sharing. Looks like Keith Kaplan is part of the group, so I wouldn't count them out yet. Digital pathology is here to stay - whether they will meet the metrics the VC/PE firm is looking for is another story.

We were Ameripath’s largest acquisition pre IPO and before they had settled on a name for the company. They got burned on that one. Many of these folks cycled thru Ameripath and/or Quest while I was there. They are like Jim New( Ameripath first CEO/founder). The sole reason these folks exist is to hope for enough growth to get an IPO and get what they can OR get a private “incubator “ such as Welch Carson to buy them. It is almost exactly analogous to folks who buy old houses, fix them up and flip them. They could not care less about the house per-se and have no intention of living there. This is simply a hope for a big flip via private equity or IPO.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

There have been some horrible VC backed radiology outfits. I watched all hell break lose at some facilities who went with Aris years ago.

 

[LADoc00]

I invite you all to visit Google and search for “Versant Diagnostics.” A VC outfit just purchased a couple of private pathology groups in the Midwest. Check out the press release. These dudes are bold. They want to be the largest pathology company in the US. I had many chuckles reading the website and press release from this new entity. Good luck transforming anatomic pathology in the United States of America in 2021. Looks to me like there is smart VC and dumb VC. Smart VC is buying up derm, ortho, GI, and other lucrative multispecialty clinical practices. The dumb VC is purchasing pathology practices.

Ask Japan’s Miraca about the Caris AP acquisition in 2011. They lost over $670 million and settled an OIG fraud claim for $63.5 million before unloading this dumpster fire to Avista Capital Partners. Ask Australia’s Sonic Healthcare how the investment in Aurora Diagnostics is going.

Anyone expecting to get big or rich from glass is so out of touch with the boots on the ground reality its hilarious.

NO physician practices are good investments. The only reason to buy groups or practices is for strategic positioning, which to me is becoming less and less important everyday.

People are running with scripts of how to get rich from like 1995, this is totally absurd. They will go broke doing this.

The money is in ONLY 2 places: Biopharma and Molecular Biodiagnostics.

All other areas in medicine (aside from the above 2) are money pits cycling down based on 3 trends:
1.) Massively decreasing reimbursement across all specialties from all payors. This level of broad decreased payments is without precedent in modern times.
2.) Significant competition for dwindling pool of younger docs willing to work full time creating a massive unprecedented labor shortage.
3.) Massively inflationary pressures on medical supplies, chemicals, courier costs and ancillary support staff costs that I see no sign of abating in the next 1/2 decade.

 

[deleted314957]

This^^^. The salad days are over.

 

[Nilf]

2.) Significant competition for dwindling pool of younger docs willing to work full time creating a massive unprecedented labor shortage.

#1 and #3 are spot on, but labor shortage in pathology? In other news, pigs fly and Marc Zuckerberg is human.

 

[KeratinPearls]

#1 and #3 are spot on, but labor shortage in pathology? In other news, pigs fly and Marc Zuckerberg is human.

When I start seeing multiple job offers near my city, I will believe there is a labor shortage. I currently do not.

 

[Vicinal]

Anyone expecting to get big or rich from glass is so out of touch with the boots on the ground reality its hilarious.

NO physician practices are good investments. The only reason to buy groups or practices is for strategic positioning, which to me is becoming less and less important everyday.

People are running with scripts of how to get rich from like 1995, this is totally absurd. They will go broke doing this.

The money is in ONLY 2 places: Biopharma and Molecular Biodiagnostics.

All other areas in medicine (aside from the above 2) are money pits cycling down based on 3 trends:
1.) Massively decreasing reimbursement across all specialties from all payors. This level of broad decreased payments is without precedent in modern times.
2.) Significant competition for dwindling pool of younger docs willing to work full time creating a massive unprecedented labor shortage.
3.) Massively inflationary pressures on medical supplies, chemicals, courier costs and ancillary support staff costs that I see no sign of abating in the next 1/2 decade.

I would add to this that path has zero control over patients, the most significant aspect of specimen control. VCs invest in healthcare quite successfully. Pathology is hamstrung due to its distance from the primary source of material…. The patient. Not sure if this can ever be solved. Pathology services are conflated to the factory or machines in any operation rather than an integral part of the procurement of specimen. All permutations whether digital or not will be minimally successful or fail because by definition there are countless ways to outsource this piece. what’s the solution? Pathologists investing in a surgery center or an imaging center and hiring all the surgeons and interventIonalists that procure tissue and control all testing, run clinical trials, devise the informatics to mine data, bank tissue etc.…..this will never happen. It’s too huge of a leap. It’s like a slug pondering flying like a hawk.

 

[Doormat]

So awesome envisioning a plucky slug trying to spread its non-existent wings like a mighty hawk. Pathology is a tradable commodity and will stay that way. The subtext here is that VC will lose big on this anatomic pathology enterprise. All is not lost for we pathologists; consider my example below.

There is a partner in our pathology group. He purchased a $200K of Tesla stock 7 years ago. He also purchased 2 homes in a depressed housing market about a decade ago. His current wealth has nothing to do with pathology. I say as an individual you can still spread your wings and find innovative ways to make $$. I believe some on this board have advocated tree cutting as an immensely profitable enterprise. As a pathologist, do not try to get rich by trying to grow your practice. Take your $ and put it to work elsewhere.

 

[KeratinPearls]

So awesome envisioning a plucky slug trying to spread its non-existent wings like a mighty hawk. Pathology is a tradable commodity and will stay that way. The subtext here is that VC will lose big on this anatomic pathology enterprise. All is not lost for we pathologists; consider my example below.

There is a partner in our pathology group. He purchased a $200K of Tesla stock 7 years ago. He also purchased 2 homes in a depressed housing market about a decade ago. His current wealth has nothing to do with pathology. I say as an individual you can still spread your wings and find innovative ways to make $$. I believe some on this board have advocated tree cutting as an immensely profitable enterprise. As a pathologist, do not try to get rich by trying to grow your practice. Take your $ and put it to work elsewhere.

Be careful about claiming people made a lot of money off Tesla stock and doing good for themselves. People on here might call you greedy.

If you were dumb enough to invest in Bitcoin 10 years ago and rode out the volatility, you could have provided your family with life changing wealth. Disclaimer: Not/investment financial advice as I’m one of those dumb pathologists btw.

 

[Guest8]

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Be careful about claiming people made a lot of money off Tesla stock and doing good for themselves. People on here might call you greedy.

If you were dumb enough to invest in Bitcoin 10 years ago and rode out the volatility, you could have provided your family with life changing wealth. Disclaimer: Not/investment financial advice as I’m one of those dumb pathologists btw.

All well and good, but none of us have a time machine, and guessing the next Bitcoin/Tesla isn't easy at all. Throwing $200K at a single investment and hoping it turns into $1B will fail far, far more than it will succeed.

 

[KeratinPearls]

All well and good, but none of us have a time machine, and guessing the next Bitcoin/Tesla isn't easy at all. Throwing $200K at a single investment and hoping it turns into $1B will fail far, far more than it will succeed.

Agree I’m not suggesting anyone throw $200,000 into a risky asset like Bitcoin 7-10 years ago. Bitcoin was like 300$ 10 years ago. You didn’t even need to buy much. $66,000 as we speak.

 

[deleted314957]

View attachment 345558

Be careful about claiming people made a lot of money off Tesla stock and doing good for themselves. People on here might call you greedy.

If you were dumb enough to invest in Bitcoin 10 years ago and rode out the volatility, you could have provided your family with life changing wealth. Disclaimer: Not/investment financial advice as I’m one of those dumb pathologists btw.

My solution has been to own some of all of those companies/notes/commodities. No guessing involved. And ignore the greed/ fear impulse. Park it all at a place with ultra low fees. You won’t hit home runs but you’ll never strike out.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

The successful VC labs I am seeing are the results of them buying up derms, gyns, uros and funneling the specimens to their lab. They must own their referral base otherwise they are just another independent lab fighting for crumbs.

 

[gbwillner]

My solution has been to own some of all of those companies/notes/commodities. No guessing involved. And ignore the greed/ fear impulse. Park it all at a place with ultra low fees. You won’t hit home runs but you’ll never strike out.

Don't forget to add a good dose of NFTs based on automated, computer generated sprites of rocks and apes to have a truly balanced portfolio. You want to make sure you are not too heavy on CryptoPunks only. Also, you never know when the next dog-based crypto will take off. Sure, right now it's Shiba Inu, after all, Doge is played out. But as well all know, dog-themed tokens that only exist as a database entry on an immutable ledger is the future of finance. Make sure you get an ETF that combines the best of all this ******ed crap, to make sure you have just enough exposure to get to the moon when which ever random one gets there with sufficient blatant manipulation and fraud.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

You know you are old when you read posts about this crypto stuff and you have no clue what you are reading.

 

[gbwillner]

You know you are old sane when you read posts about this crypto stuff and you have no clue what you are reading.

View attachment 345562

FTFY

 

[HowlPrenderghast]

You know you are old when you read posts about this crypto stuff and you have no clue what you are reading.

View attachment 345562

I'm 32 and I have no idea about anything Crypto-related. Guess, I'm old.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

I have seen John Wick 1-3. Is crypto what he uses to pay people?