Health care startup lands tax breaks

A startup intends to open four primary care clinics in the Las Vegas area in 2018.

The board of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development on Thursday approved about $393,898 in tax abatements to the startup, P3 Health Partners, to support that goal.

The founders of P3 Health Partners are the same founders of Healthcare Partners, which owned physician groups in Southern California, Nevada and Florida. Davita, the biggest U.S. dialysis services provider, bought Healthcare Partners in 2012 in a $4.42 billion deal.

Mark El-tawil, chief financial officer for P3 Health Partners, said Thursday that the startup won’t be “re-creating” Healthcare Partners “exactly” but will be building on the idea “plus additional offerings to be able to reach into other markets.”

Those additional offerings include offering training to primary care physicians to alleviate burnout. The additional services will be offered in markets outside of Nevada, starting with Arizona, because of a non-compete agreement, El-tawil said during the board meeting.

“We see a tremendous opportunity here and our founding partners

GOED

have had some pretty tremendous success here,” El-tawil said. “Opportunity is still there to expand the market and to help doctors meet their needs and provide better outcomes for their patients.”

The company plans to hire 160 full-time employees within the next two years at an average hourly wage of $36.94, according to the tax abatement application.

El-tawil said the company plans to work closely with the UNLV School of Medicine and is counting on the school’s facilities and workforce pipeline.

Jared Smith, chief operating officer of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, said P3 Health Partners “combines” health care and headquarters operations, both identified by the alliance as high-growth target industries. The alliance helped the startup with its tax abatement application.

Other actions

In other action, the board approved spending around $4 million in tax abatements in return for more than $58 million in new tax revenue, including:

■ Progress Rail Services Corp. will receive about $176,521 in tax abatements to establish a facility in Henderson that will rebuild a type of electric motor, called a traction motor, used in the rail industry. According to its tax abatement application, the company plans to hire 50 employees, the majority of whom will be local, within two years at an average hourly wage of $21.97. The company plans to make a $1.5 million capital investment and is expected to generate about $6 million in new tax revenue over 10 years.

■ Originate Inc. will receive about $83,407 in tax abatements to expand existing operations in Las Vegas. Originate employs 17 people to design and develop software and technology for startups, entrepreneurs, and engineers. The company plans to use the abatements to hire 33 new employees within two years making