El Segundo-based dialysis services provider DaVita Inc. said that it has acquired 85 percent of HomeChoice Partners Inc. for approximately $65 million in cash in a bid to diversify its business.

HomeChoice, based in Norfolk, Va., provides infusion therapy services to patients with conditions, ranging from chronic pain to cancer, that can be treated at home or at an ambulatory infusion suite. Infusion therapy involves the administration of medications into the bloodstream, under the skin, or membranes surrounding the spinal cord.

DaVita currently does not provide infusion services, but Vice President LeAnne Zumwalt said the business plays to many of DaVita’s strengths, such as the ability to manage small geographically diverse offices around the country and treating complex and chronic medical conditions in an outpatient setting.

We may eventually expand in this area, but HomeChoice is a good start,” Zumwalt said.

HomeChoice reported approximately $37 million in trailing 12 month revenue and currently serves more than 2000 patients in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to earnings in the first year, DaVita said in a press release late Monday. The remaining 15 percent ownership interest will be retained by HomeChoice’s senior management.