Trucking execs back interstate medical clinic network

Several trucking industry executives are backing plans to create a network of medical clinics to serve truck drivers as well as other travelers and people living in rural areas.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based Interstate Health Systems plans to establish a network of primary care, urgent care, and telemedicine services along the nation’s interstate highway system.

Initial funding is in place to open 60 medical clinics over the next two years, the company reports.

In addition, Interstate Health Systems plans to deliver a technology platform that integrates with trucking company platforms and includes services such as real-time telemedicine and a unified prescription service network.

Over the next six years, the company plans to build more than 300 urgent care medical clinics near truck stops and travel centers serving professional drivers, the traveling public, and the underserved communities living nearby.

Several veteran transportation and technology industry executives are among the private investors for the medical clinic network, according to a company news release. Among the investors:

• Rob Estes, CEO of Richmond, Va.-based Estes Express Lines.
• Brad Pinchuk, CEO of Dubuque, Iowa-based Hirschbach Truck Lines.
• Bob Peterson, chairman and CEO of Tulsa, Okla.-based flatbed carrier Melton Truck Lines.
• Gary Enzor, former chairman and CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based Quality Distribution.
• Jett McCandless, CEO and founder of Chicago-based logistics tech firm project44.
• Ron Rother, former CEO of Chicago-based transportation and logistics investment firm Strive Consulting.
• John Larkin, a partner in Bethesda, Md.-based Clarendon Capital.
• Chad Eichelberger, president of Reliance Partners (trucking and freight broker commercial insurance) and formerly president of brokerage at Chicago-based Coyote Logistics.
• Tommy Barnes, chief revenue officer at MyCarrier and formerly with project44 and Coyote Logistics.
• Bruce Campbell, former CEO of Greenville, Tenn.-based Forward Air.
• Perry Mandera, CEO and founder of Northlake, Ill.-based Custom Companies Inc.
• Fulton Wold, former CEO and founder of Nashville, Tenn.-based Bold Planning Technologies.

Jeff Seraphine is chief executive officer of Interstate Health Systems. He formerly was chief development officer and hospital group president for Lifepoint Health. He has more than 25 years of hospital and healthcare system executive leadership experience.

“The IHS model is a major leap forward in solving a variety of health care challenges that our professional drivers face daily,” Estes said in the news release. “IHS is supported and advised by a dynamic group of trucking, healthcare and technology leaders with the expertise needed to fundamentally redefine the future of healthcare in rural America.” LL

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