Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare continues to ramp up its surgery center business after its subsidiary United Surgical Partners International announced an agreement to acquire a stake in nine ASCs in North Carolina, Texas and Florida.
Earlier this year, Tenet sold five Florida hospitals to Dallas-based Steward Health Care for $1.1 billion. Surgery centers, however, were not included in the transaction, further pointing to Tenet's strategy of strengthening its outpatient footprint.
The $1.1 billion sale will compensate for Tenet's acquisition of up to 45 ASCs from Towson, Md.-based SurgCenter Development — a deal that also cost $1.1 billion.
Most of the 45 ASCs have been acquired, with the remainder set to change hands by the end of the year, as some facilities wait for regulatory approval, according to the company. USPI will operate the musculoskeletal ASCs, which are in Florida, Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio, New Hampshire, Texas and Wisconsin.
The 2021 acquisitions make USPI the largest musculoskeletal platform in the country, operating more than 330 ASCs, including 24 surgical hospitals, in more than 30 states.
Tenet's recent deals have further cemented itself as the largest ASC management company in the country, further pulling away from Nashville, Tenn.-based AmSurg and Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affiliates, its closest two competitors in the space.
The company also has more than 11,000 affiliated physicians, another area that it continues to expand.
In the first half of 2021, USPI said that it added more than 1,100 physicians to its medical staff. In the second quarter, the company introduced 25 new service lines across its network, primarily focused on spine and total joints — two key opportunities for growth in the ambulatory space — and is expected to see continued growth in these specialties through the end of this year and into 2022.