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Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwayFollowing its 2025 acquisition of 32 VillageMD clinics, Austin, Texas-based Harbor Health is buying an additional 27 Village Medical clinics in Greater Houston.
The acquisition brings Harbor Health, a primary and specialty care clinic group and health insurance company, to Houston just weeks before the company’s individual and family plans become available to Houstonians for the first time.
Houston will become the fifth Texas market where Harbor both delivers care and provides coverage, joining Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso. When the transaction closes, expected at the end of the year, Harbor will operate nearly 70 clinics and more than double its number of physicians and advanced practice providers across the state.
VillageMD, which was included in Sycamore Partners’ $10 billion takeover of Walgreens, told Forbes that it still has 17 clinics in Georgia, two in Kentucky, and 12 practices left in the Houston market.
The Village Medical Houston clinics Harbor is acquiring will join the Harbor Health Insurance Co. provider network and will continue to operate under the Village Medical name. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We started Harbor because we believe people deserve a better health care system and at the center of that is a company that is accountable for keeping you healthy,” said Tony Miller, Harbor Health co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “Village Medical Houston’s clinicians have spent years changing how care is practiced. When we set out to build the best payvider in Texas, Houston was always central to it. Together, Houstonians have a new company that delivers their care, pays for it, and answers for both.”
Harbor Health was co-founded by Clay Johnston, Ph.D., M.D., M.P.H., who previously served as the inaugural dean of the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School.
In a December 2024 interview with Healthcare Innovation, Johnston described his ambitious goals: “What we're trying to do is create the whole operating system. Currently, everything works on fee for service, and there's the RVU system that kind of drives clinician behavior, and there are copays, coinsurance, deductibles,” he said. “What we're trying to do is rebuild all of that stuff to change the underlying incentive structures and operating system so that it then can become more easily exportable.”
Earlier this year, Harbor acquired dementia care company Rippl, whose platform is built to help seniors living with dementia remain at home and out of the emergency department, hospital, and post-acute settings. The acquisition advances Harbor Health’s strategy to expand its condition-focused care pathways and strengthen the company’s integrated model, which combines expertise in chronic condition management and access to coordinated, affordable health insurance.
Members who choose a Harbor plan in Houston will have Village Medical Houston as their primary care home, with clinics serving Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. Harbor plans have no deductible, and when members start with a Harbor clinician and that clinician refers them to a specialist, the referred care is covered at $0, the company said. Because care and coverage are designed together, members are not left to sort out what is covered or where to go next, Harbor added.
Large employer plans are available across 29 Texas counties, including Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Brazoria in Greater Houston.
Individual and family plans will be available on HealthCare.gov for 2027, with enrollment opening Nov. 1 in 13 of the 29 counties and coverage effective Jan. 1.
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