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SOUTHLAKE, Texas—Retina Consultants of America (RCA), a private equity-backed comprehensive physician management services organization, announced Thursday that an additional founding practice, California Retina Consultants, has become a member of the recently formed consortium. California Retina Consultants is comprised of 10 retina specialists with a staff of more than 140 people across 12 offices serving the central valley and coast of California. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. RCA is backed by Webster Equity Partners, which was founded in 2003 to invest in health care services companies with high-impact growth strategies.

VMAIL reported on the formation of RCA and Webster’s investment earlier this month.

In the transaction announced this week, California Retina Consultants joins four other preeminent retina specialty practices. They are: Retina Consultants of Houston, Retina Group of Florida, Long Island Vitreoretinal Consultants, and Retinal Consultants Serving Northern California. These practices have exceptional reputations and are considered thought-leaders of the retinal field, according to Thursday’s announcement.

“We are honored to be joining RCA and tapping into all the knowledge of the RCA retina specialists,” Dr. Dante J. Pieramici of California Retina Consultants said in the announcement. “The collective expertise of the RCA retina physicians is amazing. What intrigued us with the conception of RCA, was the combination of high-quality research and clinical practice, emphasizing patient care above everything.”

Headquartered here in Southlake, Texas, RCA is partnering with leading retina specialists who seek a strategic partner with the capital resources and expertise to invest in their practice infrastructure and position them for continued growth in their markets, according to the announcement. RCA is unique in that this is the first horizontal alliance in the eyecare field focused solely on retinal care.

“We are very pleased to have California Retina Consultants join RCA,” said Robert Grabow, CEO of the management services organization. “They are leaders in the retina specialty and will be a great asset to our alliance. Their commitment to innovating through research and clinical trials and passion for delivering excellent patient care aligns perfectly with RCA’s mission.”

RCA is governed by a medical leadership board that is co-chaired by Joel Pearlman, MD, PhD, and David M. Brown, MD. Drs. Pearlman and Brown are both leaders in clinical trials that led to the development of anti-VEGF injections for the treatment of macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion.