The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing financial challenges for healthcare providers, leaving some to file for bankruptcy since the pandemic's onset.
Here are 10 bankruptcies in the ASC industry over the past two years:
1. Boca Raton, Fla.-based Path Medical filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $86.5 million in liabilities, South Florida Business Journal reported Sept. 2. The 24-clinic practice cited the "effects of the COVID-19 pandemic" as the reason.
2. Advanced Pain Management, a Wisconsin-based chain of pain management practices and surgery centers, shut down several locations last year. The company that provided services to Advanced Pain Management filed for Chapter 128 receivership, a bankruptcy alternative, in September 2020.
3. The landlord of Northwest Regional ASC in Westminster, Colo., petitioned Sept. 30, 2020, to force the surgery center into bankruptcy because of "unpaid lease obligations," according to court filings.
4. San Antonio-based Babcock Surgical Center filed for voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy June 11, 2020, in the Western District of Texas. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, businesses are typically liquidating assets to satisfy creditor claims.
5. West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Vision Group Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, claiming the COVID-19 pandemic worsened its financial issues. Vision Group Holdings operates the Laser Vision Institute and TLC Laser Eye Centers brands, and is backed by private equity investors.
6. Silver Spring, Md.-based American Center for Investigative Cardiology filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection April 15, 2020. According to its filing, the center had up to $17,000 in assets with up to $98,255 in debt.
7. Pinnacle Regional Hospital in Overland Park, Kan., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2020 and then closed permanently in April 2020. The private hospital and its clinics focused on spinal fusions and included 100 physicians.
8. Central Palm Beach Surgery Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., filed for bankruptcy Jan. 28, 2020. The surgery center estimated assets at $7.1 million and estimated liabilities at $12.2 million.
9. Yakima, Wash.-based Astria Health closed Astria Regional Medical Center in Yakima as part of a bankruptcy process. Astria Health closed one of its three hospitals and migrated care responsibilities to its ambulatory care and outpatient locations in Yakima.
10. Lockport, N.Y.-based Eastern Niagara Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Nov. 7, 2019, citing, among an array of expenses, debt acquired from opening a surgery center.