While healthcare mergers and acquisitions are down this year compared to 2021, the ASC sector continues to grow, according to an Aug. 14 article in JDSupra from the law firm Bass, Berry & Sims.
Private equity firms are seeking out physician practices with affiliated ASCs, and hospitals are seeking out joint venture opportunities with ASCs. While anticipated ASC growth may stall as inflation and staffing costs soar, "all signs point to the numbers going up in the long run," according to the report.
Here are four deals cited by JDSupra that point to ASC industry growth:
1. USPI agreed to form a joint venture partnership in 22 ASCs with Owings Mills, Md.-based United Urology Group. The company will acquire a portion of United Urology Group's ownership interests in its established and new surgery centers in Maryland, Colorado and Arizona, adding more than 140 urologists to USPI's network.
2. ASC developer Atlas Healthcare Partners has secured an investment from Southfield, Mich.-based BHSH System. The joint venture will develop and operate an orthopedic ASC at the BHSH Spectrum Health Integrated Care Campus in Grand Rapids.
3. Columbia, S.C.-based Prisma Health acquired the Moore Orthopaedic Clinic Outpatient Surgery Center in Lexington, S.C., its first ASC. This deal points to how hospitals are "increasingly relying on ASCs to support outpatient surgical care, and ultimately, their bottom line," according to the report.
4. Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners is joining 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 at Surgery Partners locations.