Haymarket Media acquired digital communications agency Group DCA from contract sales giant PDI, as the publisher continued to extend its reach with healthcare providers.

The newly acquired agency will operate as an independent entity within PRI Healthcare Solutions (PRI HCS), the custom medical communications division of Haymarket Media. (Haymarket Media also publishes MM&M.) Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“This is a pivotal time in professional media, as we continue to transform our medical communications company from a legacy print publisher to a medical digital communications firm,” explained Lee Maniscalco, CEO of Haymarket Media. “We’re working off the strength of our trusted portfolio of brands to offer solutions-oriented clinical content to HCPs when and how they choose to consume it.”

He added, “The acquisition of Group DCA complements our already strong digital presence—with platforms like MyCME and PsychiatryAdvisor—and reflects our commitment to continue to develop digital products to serve the mutlichannel needs of physicians.”

Group DCA will retain its brand name, as well as its operations and services, and its employees have joined PRI HCS in its Paramus, NJ, offices. Ron Scalici, most recently chief innovations officer at PDI, will oversee Group DCA’s day-to-day operations as general manager. 

“Haymarket has expanded their digital platform significantly in recent years and was a clear fit to benefit from our Diagram eDetailing platform,” added Scalici. “Both Haymarket and Group DCA can help accelerate each other’s growth in the digital space.”

In addition to the eDetailing platform, the Group DCA assets now owned by PRI HCS include generalist HCP website TheMedicalBag.com and an extensive physician email database.

Tammy Chernin, SVP and general manager of PRI HCS, told MM&M that the addition of Group DCA will “allow us to move even faster toward our long-term vision of a digitally led-organization.” She added: “Our strategy will be to maintain, leverage and build upon the strong Group DCA identity.” 

Haymarket’s existing portfolio of HCP-focused imprints includes MPR and The Clinical Advisor. More recently, the publisher has introduced a series of digital-only resources, each with a website and app, intended for healthcare specialists as part of an initiative to launch 20 such offerings by 2020. The most recent, ClinicalPainAdvisor.com, was launched in February and followed others aimed at the therapeutic categories psychiatry, endocrinology and neurology.

 

“HCPs rely on us for content and information to help them deliver better patient care, whether it’s looking up drug information to assist in finding the right treatment or researching a condition to confirm a diagnosis,” concluded Maniscalco. “The addition of Group DCA furthers our position and solidifies our offering to end users and advertisers.”