Paul W. Pitts

Pitts joined Reed Smith's equity partnership in January 2018. He leads the firm's California health care team and serves as managing partner of the San Francisco office.

A specialty is radiology and imaging providers, along with advising health care companies on regulatory matters and business transactions, fraud and abuse laws, payment and coverage rules, privacy and security laws and the intricate framework of Medicare and Medicaid programs.

"Radiology and imaging is a large part of the medical industry," Pitts said. "They play an important role in diagnosis and treatment, and they have unique issues. Radiology and imaging centers are the recipient of referrals leading to numerous regulatory issues."

Pitts served as lead counsel representing Austin Radiological Association, a leading radiology practice serving 20 hospitals and operating 17 outpatient imaging centers in central Texas, in its sale to physician-led and physician-owned Radiology Partners of El Segundo, a portfolio company of New Enterprise Associates, a $3.3 billion private equity fund.

With the acquisition, Radiology Partners' practice grew to include about 1,200 radiologists across 18 states.

"Our team handled every aspect of the transaction," Pitts said, "including M&A, health care regulatory issues, tax structuring, executive compensation and employment matters, antitrust and financing."

The February 2019 deal was sizable. "This was one of the biggest transactions in this space to date," Pitts said. Though terms were undisclosed, he called the price "a very large number, as befits a very big enterprise."

The negotiations took about six months. "It was quite complicated, because there were several would-be buyers in a bidding process. We helped the client consider the offers and understand the terms. In the end, for Radiology Partners this was a marquee acquisition that highlights their brand."

The deal was part of a current era of consolidation in the market.

"The health care environment is increasingly complex, so sophisticated business and operations advice is very helpful to clients," Pitts said.

"A lot of the radiology and imaging work is moving to electronic platforms, allowing subspecialist radiologists to read and see images across sites."

Pitts, who has a masters in public health administration along with his law degree, said his career path was set early. "My first legal case was a partnership dispute involving radiologists and imaging centers. Since then, I've been able to get a lot of traction with people in the industry. This is a constantly evolving and complex business, and it is most interesting to be a part of it."

-- John Roemer