Tenet acquired 45 ASCs from Towson, Md.-based SurgCenter Development in late 2020, and its ASC division, United Surgical Partners International, has spent the last quarter on integration.
"We did a significant amount of preintegration planning prior to closing [the transaction]," said Brett Brodnax, president and CEO of Dallas-based USPI, during the fourth-quarter earnings call transcribed by Seeking Alpha. "As a result of that, the integration is going very smoothly, and we continue to hit key milestones from an integration perspective."
He said USPI spent a lot of time on the transaction in the fourth quarter, but the integration won't distract from future acquisitions. The company is continuing to focus on building its pipeline of acquisitions and new ASCs in the next year.
"I think we're well positioned to have a strong year from a [mergers and acquisitions] perspective in 2021," said Mr. Brodnax. "And of course, we'll be building the pipeline for 2022 as well throughout the year."
Dan Cancelmi, Tenet executive vice president and CFO, said the company plans to allocate at least $150 million to $200 million for ASC acquisitions this year.
"As we demonstrated with the SCD transaction, if there's the right opportunity out there, we'll invest more capital in that side of the business," he said.
Mr. Cancelmi also said he expects USPI surgical case volume to hit 93 percent to 101 percent of 2019 volume after declines during the pandemic.
"While we are encouraged by the recent decline in COVID-19 cases and the distribution of the vaccines across the country, our volume estimates incorporate the possibility the variant strains of the virus could still result in the volume recovery not necessarily being linear during the year," he said.
Ron Rittenmeyer, CEO of Tenet, said USPI added 3,500 physicians and 73 service lines to its center last year, and Tenet expects USPI to increase from 33 percent to 50 percent of overall EBITDA.
"These are the stats and the progression of a business we are investing in and plan to continue to ensure it remains a leader in its category," said Mr. Rittenmeyer.