Ancor Capital Partners Agrees to Settlement with Federal Regulators

DALLAS, July 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Private investment firm Ancor Capital Partners entered into an agreement with the federal government to settle a dispute related to business practices at Alliance Parent, Inc., a firm in which it is invested. The agreement is not an admission of liability by Ancor, and the company denies any wrongdoing.

"We are pleased to settle this issue and put it behind us so that Alliance can continue to provide its outstanding services to patients without distraction," said J. Randall Keene, a Founding Partner at Dallas-based Ancor. "Alliance is a pioneer in modern ambulatory electroencephalography (EEG) and a clinical leader in its field. It provides an essential service to patients and payers alike by dramatically lowering health care costs and expanding in-home diagnostics access to people with epilepsy and other seizure-related conditions, particularly those in remote and underserved markets. This agreement allows Alliance to focus on expanding its services to help even more people."

The settlement, which includes a payment by Ancor of $1.8 million to the United States government and certain states involved in Medicaid, concludes a review of business practices that began before Ancor's investment in the firm in July 2017. At that time, ambulatory EEG testing was beginning to prove itself as an indispensable way to reduce costs for payers while introducing high quality standards of testing for patients in their own homes, but government reimbursement practices were not yet modernized to reflect ambulatory EEG's rapidly-growing value.

The government started an investigation into Alliance Parent, Inc. just as Ancor became involved in the firm and began professionalizing Alliance's operations. Alliance cooperated with the government throughout and produced more than three million documents to assist in the inquiry. When Ancor was notified of the government's findings in 2019, it took immediate and decisive action, hiring the noted law firm Arnold & Porter to conduct an extensive internal review. 

"Since these issues surfaced, Ancor has revised its business model, initiated the replacement of Alliance's leadership team, created and staffed new executive positions, including a chief medical officer and chief compliance officer, and added a world-class Medical Advisory Board comprised of leading physicians with deep experience in neurology and related medical fields," Keene said.  

Keene notes that Ancor has helped Alliance mature from its early entrepreneurial stage to a professionally managed growth company. The new management team, led by Chief Executive Officer Charlie Alvarez, has deep health care experience, and has focused its energies on making patient outcomes its top priority by investing in new technology and software, recruiting additional talent with health care experience, and restructuring departments based on the company's new business model.

"As investors and operators, we are pleased with Alliance's commitment to clinical excellence and its leadership in the industry," Keene said. "We are also happy to see that regulators are now seeing ambulatory EEG has a standard of care that is preferred by many doctors, payers and patients. This agreement enables Alliance to continue its leadership in the field and help even more people who might otherwise lack access to sophisticated testing procedures for certain medical conditions."

About Ancor Capital Partners: Ancor Capital Partners, a Dallas-based private investment firm, is focused on helping companies reach their next level of growth. Ancor's experienced team has the acumen, expertise and resources to invest wisely in existing successful companies through private equity buyouts. As a seasoned operating partner, Ancor works to operationally optimize businesses, maximize growth opportunities and instill a lasting culture. With a proven track record of over 50 successful acquisitions to date, Ancor targets health care, consumer staples, industrial manufacturing, automotive and emerging market businesses. For more information, visit www.AncorCapital.com.

SOURCE Ancor Capital Partners