Dallas-based Behavioral Health Group has added to its network of treatment centers in Tennessee by buying opioid treatment program Recovery of Columbia for an undisclosed sum. BHG also runs facilities in Nashville, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis and Paris as well as in seven other states.

Analysts at Fitch Ratings say the rollout of the various parts of the Affordable Care Act won't radically overhaul the health care sector overnight. In fact, they write, the breathlessly anticipated bump in patient volumes early next year merely "might provide a temporary boost to utilization." Beyond that, the biggest effect of the reform law will be to quicken the already vigorous pace of mergers and acquisitions.

Without an obvious catalyst for a recovery in weak organic growth, healthcare providers must instead look for a bottom-up solution to offset the effects on financial results. A trend of industry consolidation is reflective of the fact that economies of scale and vertical consolidation will support profitability in an environment where healthcare providers face slow organic growth and are required to accept more financial risk, such as through bundled or value-based payments.

NewsChannel 5's Jennifer Kraus is still hot on the trail of what has happened at and what will happen to HRC Medical Centers. Her latest piece looks at the new owners of what had been HRC's clinic on 14th Avenue North and finds some familiar faces in HRC's ex-VP of medical operations and the manager of the clinic that has changed hands.

"This is stuff that happened before, or much of it, happened before I was here" Cannata shared when asked about the various allegations made in the attorney general's lawsuit.

Now, he insisted, changes have been made.

"Our contracts are certainly different. Our salespeople are not commissioned. Our sales people are hourly paid. The disclosures are very thorough and list all of the side effects," he said.

The office of Attorney General Bob Cooper has filed suit against HRC Medical, the multi-state chain of hormone replacement therapy clinics run by brothers Don and Dan Hale. The state is accusing the company of, among other things, endangering patients by using excessive treatment doses and — shades of meningitis here — using a pharmacy in the Northeast with a history of quality issues.  Jennifer Kraus at NewsChannel 5 has the full story, which includes these details.

According to the complaint, Dr. Hale, who claimed to be an expert in hormone therapy, got most of his training from a two-day conference. The lawsuit claims that HRC's therapy program was created with an unlicensed medical assistant who had no formal training, just a medical assistant's certificate from the Nashville Court Reporting Academy.

The private-equity firm that helped orchestrate the 2004 creation of locally based auto insurer First Acceptance Corp. has teamed with the former CEO of Renal Management to launch another entrant into the dialysis services market. Corva LLC is headquartered outside Denver and already has bought a clinic in Houston. Flexpoint Ford says it will invest up to $75 million in the company led by Jerry Simonsen. Together, they will look to make their mark in a sector that has seen plenty of big deals in the last few years, a number of which involved local players Renal Advantage and DSI.

Shares of AmSurg are up more than 2 percent in mid-day trading and earlier reached $31 for the first time, pushing the company's market cap ever so close to $1 billion. The surgery center operator has now climbed almost 20 percent so far this year — even though it's been very quiet on the corporate news front — and has outpaced the S&P 500 by 12 percent in the past 12 months.