Mobile diagnostic imaging aimed at rural regions has a new financial backer. Private equity firm Align Capital Partners has announced the acquisition of Heritage Imaging, a provider that brings exams to hospitals and clinics in underserved areas of the United States. The deal value was not disclosed.
The companies involved
Founded in 1989 and based in Boise, Idaho, Heritage Imaging specializes in delivering diagnostic imaging to rural and underserved markets across the U.S. Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Align Capital Partners, an investment group with operations in Ohio and Texas, sealed the agreement in a statement issued on May 28.
Following the transaction, Heritage CEO Steve Coppess, MD, MBA — a former RB Forty Under 40 honoree — will continue leading the company alongside the current management team. Keeping the leadership in place often signals that the buyer sees value in the existing operating model, not just in the assets.
A model built around access
Heritage currently serves healthcare facilities across 14 states, including critical access hospitals, community clinics and other local health centers. Its stated goal is to improve access to imaging and reduce patient travel times for exams such as PET-CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, ultrasound and echocardiography.
Critical access hospitals are small rural hospitals designated by the U.S. health system, generally capped at 25 beds and located a considerable distance from other facilities. For these institutions, owning a dedicated MRI or PET-CT scanner rarely makes financial sense — which is exactly why shared and mobile models matter, spreading equipment costs across several sites.
Those services are delivered through fully staffed mobile solutions and equipment leasing offerings. In practice, instead of patients traveling hundreds of miles to a major center, the equipment — often in a mobile unit — comes to the community. It is a universal problem: bringing quality diagnostics to the interior is a challenge faced in Brazil too, as we discussed when presenting the cardiac CT that takes diagnosis to rural areas.
A consolidation strategy
“Heritage was established to help hospitals provide the best possible experience and outcomes for patients, no matter where they live,” Coppess said. “While we have significantly expanded our reach over the years, we are excited to partner with Align Capital Partners to further extend our impact.”
Coppess and colleagues said Heritage has already closed three add-on acquisitions since 2024. Alongside Align, the company plans to continue pursuing mergers and acquisitions, focused on a similar outsourced-imaging model in adjacent markets, along with expansion into new exam modalities. It is the classic consolidation thesis for a still-fragmented sector, in which small regional providers are brought together under a larger platform.
Add-on acquisitions — buying smaller companies to bolt onto an existing platform — are a hallmark of private-equity playbooks in healthcare. Each tuck-in deal can add routes, contracts and modalities while spreading overhead across a larger base. For a mobile-imaging operator, scale also improves bargaining power with equipment vendors and helps justify investment in newer scanners that individual rural sites could never afford on their own, ultimately raising the standard of care available far from major urban centers.
What drives the financial interest
Align’s bet reflects a broader trend of private capital targeting healthcare services with recurring revenue and structural demand. An aging population, rising exam volumes and a shortage of professionals in remote areas make outsourced imaging an attractive business. “Heritage has built a strong reputation as a trusted imaging partner to hospitals operating in rural America,” said Rob Langley, managing partner at Align Capital Partners. “We’re excited to back this dynamic team with additional resources, and ultimately improve access to healthcare.”
The move adds to a wave of transactions in the imaging sector. We recently covered Jardine’s billion-dollar purchase of I-Med Radiology, another example of how investors view medical imaging as a strategic asset.
Implications and outlook
For the sector, consolidation carries pros and cons. On one hand, larger platforms can invest in more modern equipment, standardize quality and broaden geographic reach. On the other, private capital entering essential services always raises the debate over pressure for financial returns and its effects on prices and care priorities. The outcome will depend on how Align balances growth with the sustainability of the access model that made Heritage attractive in the first place. For patients in the American interior, the hope is that more investment translates into fewer miles driven to the next exam.
The parallel with Brazil is direct. In a country of continental dimensions, vast regions rely on mobile units and exam task forces to ensure timely diagnosis. Initiatives that combine telemedicine, itinerant equipment and public-private partnerships follow the same logic that makes Heritage attractive: bringing the exam closer to those who need it, rather than forcing patients to travel long distances.
Source: Radiology Business
