Physician staffing firms have been hit by economic pressure and high margins, causing one to file for bankruptcy and another to shut down.
Here's what ASCs need to know:
1. In May, physician services company and ASC operator Envision filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and recently announced it will lay off 329 employees.
2. The Nashville, Tenn.-based organization said various factors contributed to the filing — including declining patient volumes, payers excluding its clinicians from their networks and not providing adequate reimbursement for care, the implementation of the No Surprises Act, rising inflation and the national clinician shortage.
3. Under a restructuring plan, Envision Physician Services and AmSurg, which owns and operates ASCs, will operate as two separate entities. AmSurg is acquiring ASCs held by Envision for $300 million plus a waiver of intercompany loans held by AmSurg.
4. Brentwood, Tenn.-based American Physician Partners, another physician staffing company, announced that it is closing and plans to transition its hospital contracts as of July 31.
5. S&P Global Ratings downgraded APP Holdco, the parent company of American Physician Partners, to "CCC-" in 2021 after it pulled its $520 million term loan deal.
6. Both physician staffing firms were backed by private equity groups.