BRENTWOOD, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Spero Health, Inc., a newly formed healthcare organization specializing in local, affordable, outpatient care for individuals suffering from substance use disorder, announced that it has acquired investment growth capital to meet the demand in communities across the country for high-quality, comprehensive and integrated addiction treatment services.

Heritage Group, Health Velocity Capital, South Central, Inc. and Frist Cressey Ventures partnered with the management team to launch Spero Health. To accelerate the company’s growth, Spero Health recently acquired the assets of 20 freestanding outpatient clinics located throughout Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. Providing care for more than 5,000 patients each month, Spero is one of the largest office-based opioid treatment providers in the country.

“Our team is committed to our mission to ‘Save Lives, Instill Hope, and Restore Relationships’ for those suffering from substance use disorder disease,” said Steve Priest, President and Chief Executive Officer of Spero Health, “and we could not be more excited to have this group of experienced, knowledgeable and committed investors as our partners.”

Spero Health utilizes an innovative evidenced-based integrated care model that combines both physical and behavioral healthcare services under one roof to treat the whole patient. This integrated care model combines physician services (including medication assisted treatment), behavioral health counseling, recovery support services, medication management and patient and family education. Its community-based approach to treatment allows patients to continue working and caring for their families as they overcome addiction. Spero Health is in-network with Medicaid and most commercial insurance plans.

“The opioid epidemic is far-reaching, affecting all socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Priest. “The dramatic increase in drug use and high rates of overdose make it essential that individuals have a local and affordable community-based option, and we are well-positioned to bring this care to communities that need help. We are excited that we will be able to provide more care to more people in more places with the commitment and support from our investor partners.”

“We are very excited to partner with such an experienced management team to launch Spero Health and aid in the company’s next phase of growth,” said Rock Morphis, Managing Director at Heritage Group. “As our nation continues to combat the opioid crisis, the need for quality providers is at an all-time high. We believe Spero Health can be the new standard of care for patients suffering from substance use disorder and look forward to working with the team to build a company that will have a lasting impact in the lives of the patients we serve.”

For more information about Spero Health, please visit www.sperohealth.com.

About Heritage Group - Heritage Group is a Nashville-based, healthcare-exclusive, venture capital firm with more than 30 years of experience financing and operating healthcare companies at all stages. With $400 million under management, Heritage provides capital and unique growth opportunities to businesses that improve the delivery of healthcare services. The firm’s strategic partners operate more than 550 hospitals with 90,000 beds and employ approximately 600,000 people. They cover more than 20 million lives under a number of leading health plans, deliver pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 100,000 locations daily and generate revenues of almost $300 billion. For more information, visit www.HeritageGroupUSA.com.

About Health Velocity - Health Velocity Capital has offices in San Francisco, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn., and invests exclusively in innovative healthcare software and services companies. The firm’s partners have more than 50 collective years as investors, entrepreneurs and senior executives helping to build innovative companies that created important new healthcare markets and/or that became market leaders. In addition to investing on behalf of institutional investors, Health Velocity invests on behalf of a number of our nation’s largest and most influential healthcare organizations as well as current and former healthcare senior executives and leaders. Collectively, these investors represent organizations that provide health insurance to more than 140 million Americans, operate nearly 300 hospitals, provide pharmacy and PBM services to more than 75 percent of all Americans, and provide software and services to every major hospital in the United States. For more information, please visit www.healthvelocitycapital.com.

About South Central, Inc. - South Central Inc. is the family office and investment company of the Engelbrecht family of Evansville, Ind. The company has deployed patient capital into minority and majority investments and businesses from the early stages through maturity. Initially rooted in media and telecom, investments continue to be wide-ranging in spaces such as healthcare, consumer package goods, technology, banking, real estate, HR/PEO services and contracting services. For more information, please visit www.southcentralinc.com.

About Frist Cressey Ventures - Frist Cressey Ventures is dedicated to accelerating the growth of high-potential healthcare enterprises through value-added partnerships. We will invest in healthcare service and information technology (“HCIT”) businesses that provide meaningful solutions to improve quality of care, patient outcomes and efficiency in the delivery of services. We join like-minded entrepreneurs who share the same core values in their pursuit to improve healthcare. For more information, please visit www.fcventures.com.

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