In 2009, TLC Laser Eye Centers filed for bankruptcy. Tom Tooma, a California ophthalmologist, had formed a partnership with the company in 1999. Dr. Tooma said that “it was a good partnership for many years and served us both well,” so when TLC went bankrupt, Tooma purchased eight of the company’s Southern California clinics.
A successful business person, Dr. Tooma has developed the one-clinic practice he started in 1997 into a multi-clinic Lasik surgery company that serves hundreds of patients each month. The clinics Tooma bought in the acquisition will no longer bare the name TLC. Instead, all of the clinics will be part of Tooma’s new company NVISION Laser Eye Centers.
Although Tooma purchased the TLC clinics as part of the company’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, he says that he paid a “fair purchase price.” He described that he decided to buy the additional clinics because he “wanted to take full control of [the] strategic direction.” The eight clinics are located across Southern California in:
- La Jolla
- Fullerton
- Newport Beach
- Laguna Hills
- Palm Desert
- Ontario
- Torrance
- Camarillo
Dr. Tooma anticipates continuing to serve many patients in the coming months, despite the downturn in the economy. Although many Lasik eye centers have seen their patients drop by fifty percent or more, Dr. Tooma and his colleagues have maintained a much bigger client base. He credits this fact to “a strong partnership with more than 1,300 Southern California doctors” who send the clinics sixty percent of their patients. He anticipates those relationships to continue under the new name NVISION.
Source: The Orange County Register, “Surgeon eyes new business growth,” Jan Norman, 16 Sept 2010