Four founding members of the MOON veterinary collaborative have agreed to merge their referral groups, creating a 13-hospital company with locations in San Diego, Chicago, Denver and the Northeast. The as-yet-unnamed company will be made up of InTown Veterinary Group, Premier Veterinary Group, Veterinary Specialty Hospital and Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital. Each group will retain its local identity, said Matt Tompkins, DVM, the CEO of Premier Veterinary Group and president of MOON’s board. “We intend to build a national company with local culture,” Dr. Tompkins said. “Our name will reflect that philosophy.” The merger was announced Tuesday and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. The financial terms were not revealed, but Tompkins said each group will be represented on the company board. The marriage sprouted from the relationships the groups developed under MOON, which offers networking and education as well as preferred pricing from selected vendors. “Over the past several years, MOON has provided the opportunity for our members to collaborate,” Tompkins said. “We now have the opportunity to create a truly innovative, collaborative organization.” Several MOON members did not take part in the merger. They include Affiliated Veterinary Specialists in Maitland, Fla.; Atlantic Street Veterinary Hospital in Roseville, Calif.; Coral Springs Animal Hospital in suburban Miami; Madison Veterinary Specialists in Wisconsin; and Sage Centers for Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Care in Concord, Calif. “All current and future members of MOON will continue to receive the same value and services,” Tompkins said. MOON will be folded into the new company by year’s end. “We will continue to hold our annual MOON summit and offer our portfolio of procurement solutions, both of which we will be expanding this year,” Tompkins said. Most of the new company’s hospitals are in the eastern half of the United States. InTown Veterinary Group (IVG) has locations in Latham, N.Y.; Portsmouth and Lebanon, N.H.; and Woburn, Natick and North Andover, Mass. Premier Veterinary Group operates four hospitals: Chicago and Grayslake, Crestwood and Kane County, Ill. Veterinary Specialty Hospital is in San Marcos, Calif., and the San Diego neighborhood of Sorrento Valley. Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital has a single location in Wheat Ridge, Colo., a suburb of Denver.
