Intrapreneurship at DaVita Healthcare Partners

DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita) is one of the U.S.'s leading dialysis providers, a process whereby persons with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are connected to a machine that performs the functions of a healthy kidney. Kent Thiry, DaVita's CEO, has expanded the company's scope of activities since he first arrived in 1999. He initially focused on consolidating the company's dialysis business, which included acquiring the company's primary U.S. competitor, before expanding into related businesses such as pharmacy services for people with ESRD. In the 2010s, Thiry again broadened DaVita's scope by moving into primary care via the acquisition of Health Care Partners (HCP, a company that owned medical practices and health care facilities) and by forming Paladina Health (Paladina), a company that sells primary care services to self-insured employers. Thiry's strategic decisions reflect several considerations, including his belief that value- and performance-based reimbursement will become the norm in the U.S. health care system, a commitment to extending DaVita's ability to execute on its mission, and DaVita being excessively reliant on a single medical condition for revenue. The latter concern is partially explained by DaVita running out of logical growth vehicles within kidney care/dialysis (i.e., there are no more sizeable competitors or companies to buy) and, in the longer term, the potential reduction in ESRD patients due to innovations in the treatment of the underlying problems (e.g., diabetes) that lead to ESRD.