The ASC industry is slowly consolidating, and five major moves in the last year point to how the industry is shifting.
Here are five moves disrupting the ASC industry:
1. Optum, parent company of ASC chain SCA Health, has shifted its focus to physician acquisitions in the last few years. Notably, the company acquired Houston-based physician group Kelsey-Seybold for around $2 billion last year. The company is now affiliated with more than 70,000 physicians, making it the largest employer of physicians in the country.
2. Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health, dually headquartered in Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee, closed on their formal combination in December, resulting in a newly combined $27 billion, 67-hospital system called Advocate Health. The blockbuster deal could signal more transactions to follow for hospitals and surgery centers.
3. In May, Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Healthcare, an ASC operator and physician services company, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and recently announced it will lay off 329 employees. The organization is said to have high labor costs and $7 billion in debt, and it missed a March 31 quarterly reporting deadline and skipped an April interest payment.
4. In November 2021, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, parent company of ASC chain United Surgical Partners International, said it would acquire more than 90 ASCs from SurgCenter Development for approximately $1.2 billion. The acquisition includes ownership interest in 92 ASCs and the formation of a five-year development agreement to provide continuity for SurgCenter Development's facilities and physician partners.
5. Last year, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners inked a deal with ValueHealth to expand access to high-value surgical care.
The partnership will aim to build ASCs and deploy ValueHealth's value-based surgical programs across Surgery Partners' current and in-development locations. Through the agreement, Surgery Partners will also manage and assume ValueHealth's interest in three ASCs and four more in development. The move illustrates the Surgery Partners' focus on value-based care and cardiology.