These are the five biggest moves by the five biggest ASC chains so far in 2024:
USPI, owned by Tenet Healthcare (Dallas): Tenet has been on a hospital selling spree, redirecting focus toward its ASC arm, United Surgical Partners International.
- On Oct. 1, Tenet completed the sale of its 70% ownership of five hospitals in Alabama.
- Tenet also sold nine hospitals in California and South Carolina for a total of $3.9 billion.
- The company acquired 45 new centers in Q1 when it quietly purchased ASC chain Covenant Physician Partners.
2. SCA Health, owned by Optum (Deerfield, Ill.)
- In May, Becker's reported on SCA's 2023 quiet purchase of two cardiovascular practices.
- SCA Health completed the sale of Antelope Valley Surgery Center in Lancaster, Calif., for an undisclosed amount, as well as San Rafael, Calif.-based Marin Specialty Surgery Center, which was purchased by MarinHealth Medical Center and the University of California San Francisco Health.
- Optum is also a potential buyer of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners, along with private equity firm TPG.
3. AmSurg (Nashville, Tenn.): AmSurg was owned by Envision Health until 2023 when the parent company filed for bankruptcy.
- In June, AmSurg inked a joint venture with Escondido. Calif.-based Palomar Health and the system's Poway (Calif.) Surgery Center.
- In July, AmSurg acquired ownership interest in Salem, Ore.-based River Road Surgery Center, which specializes in ENT procedures.
- In August, AmSurg partnered with Owings Mills, Md.-based LifeBridge Health and Pikesville, Md.-based Woodholme Group to open a gastroenterology ASC in Westminster, Md.
4. HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.): HCA runs its ASCs through the HCA Surgery Ventures line.
- Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Denver-based HCA HealthOne, part of HCA, expanded their relationship to provide additional healthcare access in central Denver.
- On Aug. 13, HCA Healthcare won certificate-of-need approval to develop an ASC in Hanover, Va., after two consecutive rejections by state health authorities.
- HCA Surgery Ventures will also open the Silicon Valley Surgery Center in Campbell, Calif., through a joint venture with more than 50 physicians.
5. Surgery Partners (Brentwood, Tenn.): Surgery Partners is the only publicly traded ASC company remaining in the market.
- In February, Surgery Partners teamed up with Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health to develop ASC joint ventures across the state.
- In May, it formed a partnership with New York City-based Gramercy Park Digestive Disease Center.
- With backing from private-equity firm Bain Capital, the company has also been exploring sales options, attracting interest from both PE firms and other healthcare companies. Optum and PE-firm TPG are both highly interested parties in the potential acquisition.