ATLANTA—EyeSouth Partners announced Monday that is has completed an affiliation with Midwest Eye Center (MWEC). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The affiliation represents Atlanta-based EyeSouth’s first in the states of Ohio and Kentucky. EyeSouth is an eyecare-focused management services organization backed by Shore Capital Partners, and it is committed to partnering with leading physicians to build a premier network of eyecare services in the U.S. Midwest Eye Center adopted a new corporate name in August 2020, as VMAIL reported. The group was previously known as Tri-State Centers for Sight.

Midwest Eye Center is led by Drs. Mark Cepela, Jean Noll, Faiz Khaja, Saif Jaweed, Matthew Dykhuizen, and Daniel Love, and functions with 28 total providers, including 20 ophthalmologists and eight medical optometrists. In total, MWEC employs approximately 250 support staff across 19 clinical locations and two ambulatory surgery centers in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Through its dense clinical footprint, MWEC provides primary eyecare in addition to retina, glaucoma, cornea, oculoplastic and pediatric subspecialty care to many underserved areas throughout Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

EyeSouth’s affiliate network consists of 21 practices with more than 185 doctors providing medical and surgical eyecare services at approximately 105 locations, including 12 surgery centers throughout Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, and Kentucky.

Dr. Cepela, managing partner of MWEC, said of the new partnership, “After an exhaustive search, we selected EyeSouth as the best partner for the next phase of growth and are very excited for the future. We are completely aligned with EyeSouth in upholding the Midwest Eye Center standard of care we have built over more than 30 years while supplementing our operations with best-in-class management to further enhance that standard of care and accelerate our growth.”

Eugene Gabianelli, MD, chief medical officer of EyeSouth Partners, said in the announcement, “Despite a continually challenging environment, EyeSouth remains committed to targeted geographic expansion with high-quality practices. The doctor and administrative leadership of Midwest Eye Center are top-notch, and we are excited for what we can achieve together. It is an honor to welcome this group of doctors and staff to the EyeSouth network.”