Avel eCare, the nation’s leading provider of clinician-to-clinician telemedicine services and the largest, most comprehensive virtual health network in the world, recently acquired Minnesota-based virtual hospitalist services Horizon Virtual, according to a recent announcement.

This is Avel eCare’s third acquisition in a little over a year as the Sioux Falls-based company continues to expand, providing virtual care to mostly rural and small-town hospitals in 41 states to date.

"Acquiring Horizon Virtual represents an exciting opportunity to augment our hospitalist services, which remains one of our fastest-growing service lines,” Avel eCare CEO Doug Duskin said.

Darin Willardsen, CEO of Horizon Virtual, and now Avel’s Vice President of Provider Relations and Strategic Partnership, agreed.

“We can now offer our customers solutions that address multiple areas within their hospitals while continuing to provide the same world-class virtual care," he said. "It has been an honor and will continue to be my desire to serve our customers and help alleviate staffing shortages and physician burnout as it has enabled more patients to remain in their local communities near friends and family support.”

Avel’s large network of doctors, nurses and clinicians grew even more last September with the purchase of Texas-based virtual hospitalist provider Fident Health. In January 2023, Avel also acquired remote pharmacy services provider NightWatch.

On Tuesday, Avel eCare hosted an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony at its Sioux Falls headquarters to celebrate this occasion and to showcase its newly renovated Clinical Hub and Innovation Center.

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The event was attended by prominent figures from the healthcare community, including representatives from Avera Health and the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Jennifer Hoesing, CEO of Girl Scouts Dakota Horizons, began by welcoming Avel eCare as the newest member of the Chamber.

David Johnson, representing the Chamber's diplomat committee, commended Avel eCare for its invaluable contributions to healthcare delivery, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

Cornerstone Caregiving Director of Operations Katlin Johnson represented the Chamber’s Young Professionals Network and emphasized how crucial eCare is, especially to those in smaller or rural communities.

“As a licensed nursing home administrator and someone who has used eCare in the small town of De Smet, South Dakota, I got to learn right away how important eCare is and how it reduces our readmission rates,” Katlin Johnson said.

Duskin spoke next about the significance of Avel eCare’s services along with its newly renovated space.

“We've been in business for 30 years, and for 30 years, we've been driving a technology-enabled workflow to help strengthen care and clinical experiences for all of our customers,” Duskin said. “That high-quality virtual care impacting millions of lives a year is important to who we are and the foundation of what we do.”

In July 2021, Avera Health decided to sell Avel eCare (then Avera eCare) to Aquiline capital Partners in order for Avel to grow and continue to expand its services nationwide.

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Duskins said that decision was well-made in that it allowed their services to be more accessible to people outside of this region and to expand staffing.

“I think it's also important to recognize we're steeped in this community. If you look back at our founder or initial shareholder, it was Avera Health and that was incredibly important to serving rural America,” he said.

Duskin continued highlighting the effect Avel eCare has on the residents of Sioux Falls. He said Avel has roughly 180-200 people who work in the community, and it's important to provide them with a real state-of-the-art facility to practice in, said Duskin.

“We’re everywhere from the ambulance, to the emergency room, to the pharmacy, to the inpatient, to the ICU, to the behavioral health ward, to your schools, to your police cars," he said. "We're impacting multiple areas around your community from this facility and from afar. So, it's important to us that we maintain that strong tide in this community.”

Hoesing added she understood the challenges of smaller communities, having grown up in a town in western Iowa of 1,000 people, where healthcare was hard to come by, and in southeastern Iowa, she once waited 80 minutes for an ambulance.

“It just illustrates the importance of healthcare to one person to know you're doing that across all of these states right here in Sioux Falls,” Hoesing said.

On behalf of the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, Duskin was then presented with a plague from Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center Dr. Ronald Place, who extended his congratulations and best wishes for continued success.

“I think it's exciting that we're able to double down our investment into Sioux Falls,” Duskin said. “And, you know, we're looking forward to the years to come.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls' Avel acquires Minnesota-based virtual hospital services