Here are 55 companies involved in the management and development of ambulatory surgery centers.
Note: This list is not an endorsement of any company.
Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies. Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies provides a "tiered" administrative, oversight and consulting model to its clients. It offers a wide array of services, including responding to state, CMS and accreditation surveys, interim administrator and clinical management services, business office services as well as financial projections. The company was co-founded by Vito Quatela, MD, and John J. Goehle, MBA. Mr. Quatela currently serves as the CEO of the company.
Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America. Tom Bombardier, MD, FACS, Brent Lambert, MD, FACS, and George Violin, MD, FACS, formed Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America in 1997. The company started with de novo surgery centers, which it continues to establish along with helping struggling ASCs turnaround. ASCOA has one of the most seasoned ASC management and development teams in the industry, and it provides physician recruitment, payer contracting, cost control and operational efficiency services. ASCOA currently operates 27 facilities across the United States with several others in development. CEO is Luke Lambert, MBA, CASC, joined the company as CFO in 1997.
AmSurg. AmSurg partners with more than 1,800 physicians at 235-plus outpatient surgery centers across the country. The company provides numerous services, such as advocacy in government affairs, digital sharing of best practices and quality measurement. The company was founded in 1986 by David Manning, currently the company's executive vice president and chief development officer, and Rodney Lunn, who is no longer with AmSurg. Christopher A. Holden is AmSurg's current CEO, and he has held the role since 2007. AmSurg is a player to be reckoned with in the industry; the company recently finalized a $2.35 billion acquisition of Sheridan Healthcare in one of the biggest deals of the year.
Arise Healthcare. Arise Healthcare aims to help healthcare facilities, including ambulatory surgery centers, through its numerous service offerings, such as billing, coding and collections, supply chain management and accreditation assistance and mock surveys. Arise also helps lead successful turnaround operations for hospitals and ASCs. Jared Ledger is a co-founder, managing partner and current CEO of Arise Healthcare.
Artisan Medical. Artisan Medical was founded in 2003, and it focuses on providing specialized development and management, such as budgeting and cash flow management, IT management and developing policy and procedure manuals and developing audit and separation of work procedures. Jesse Chamberlain, Artisan Medical's managing partner, focuses on organizing strategic ASC partnership teams and recruiting new surgeons to join ASCs. The company and its strategic partners have developed and managed more than 35 ASCs in 23 states.
ASD Management. Founded by Robert Zasa and Joseph Zasa, the company is one of the oldest and largest privately held surgery center companies in the country. ASD Management aims to redevelop existing ASCs, managing all new development phases as well as provide ASC management and consulting services. The company has developed and managed more than 125 ambulatory surgery centers in 45 different states. The company was among the first in the United States to develop surgery center benchmarking data to monitor and manage net revenue, reimbursement and variable expenses.
Avanza Heatlhcare Strategies. Avanza Healthcare Strategies, formerly known as ASC Strategies, was founded in 2007. The company's leadership has extensive experience in ASC development and operations, and it has helped a number of healthcare organizations migrate low-risk inpatient services to outpatient settings. The company's clients span nearly 40 states and provides services such as strategic planning, feasibility assessment and program design. Avanza was founded by Joan Dentler, who serves as the company's CEO and president.
Blue Chip Surgery Center Partners. Blue Chip Surgery Center Partners builds and helps manage businesses led by physicians. The company offers the full-spectrum of services for surgery center development, including initial business planning, physician syndication, reimbursement and contracting as well as operations management and administration. Blue Chip also focuses on acquisitions and joint ventures. The company has successfully developed ASCs in Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Jeff Leland is the current CEO of Blue Chip, with Kathleen Whitlow, RN, CASC, serving as its COO.
The C/N Group. Founded in 1980 by Ravi Chopra, the company and its affiliated entities comprise an annual revenue base in excess of $20 million. The company develops, owns and operates a wide array of healthcare facilities, including ambulatory surgery centers, medical office buildings and diagnostic imaging centers. The company employs approximately 230 people among its western New York, northwest Indiana and north Texas regional markets. The C/N Group is family-owned and-operated, with Raman Chopra and Rajiv Chopra acting as principals.
Community Care. Community Care was established in 1998 with the aim of acquiring, developing and managing freestanding ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with physicians and hospitals. Community Care's president, director and CEO is E. Tony Reed. The company is currently partnered with surgery centers in Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Florida and Indiana.
Constitution Surgery Centers. Constitution Surgery Centers has been helping outpatient facilities deliver the high quality care as well as achieve financial success for more than 15 years. The company began forming de novo partnerships with surgeons to create freestanding ASCs in the 90s, and since then has developed single-specialty surgery centers focused on ophthalmology, orthopedics and urology, among others, as well as multispecialty ASCs. The company also focuses on ASC transactions, turnarounds and creating joint ventures. Theodore J. Krawiec, MD, and Kris Mineau co-founded Constitution Surgery Centers. Mr. Mineau currently serves as president and CEO.
Covenant Surgical Partners. A group of experienced investors — including healthcare and financial executives as well as an ASC physician owner — formed the company in 2008. Covenant Surgical Partners focuses on acquiring and managing single and limited specialty surgery centers in partnership with physicians. Covenant Surgical Partners also offers business office services such as human resources, billing, contract negotiations, accounting and payroll. With more than 19 years of experience in the ASC industry, Rick Jacques leads the company as president and CEO. In July, Covenant Surgical Partners appointed Jeff Fischer the first CFO.
Elite Surgical Affiliates. Lori Ramirez founded Elite Surgical Affiliates in 2008, and serves as the company's president and CEO. The company develops and operates surgery centers that focus on orthopedics, spine and pain management. The company also provides back office services, such as billing and collections, as well as sales and marketing, staffing services and internal controls. The company has facilities operational in Houston and several others in the development phase.
Eveia Health Consulting & Management. In 2013, Eveia celebrated 15 years of providing consulting services. Since the company was established it has serviced more than 500 clients in 43 states. The company's consultants provide services for managed care/payer contracting, financial management, operations, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. Eveia's founder and managing principal is I. Naya Kehayes, MPH, who has extensive ASC operations and healthcare financial management experience.
Facility Development & Management. Founded in 1992 by Edward P. Hetrick, the company has successfully developed more than 45 Medicare-certified and/or state-licensed centers. Mr. Hetrick currently serves as president. The company's services include daily operations management, equipment planning and purchasing through national contracts, reimbursement systems and operational auditing services. The company also participates in professional ASC organizations such as Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, New York State Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgical Centers.
Global Surgical Partners. Co-founded by J.A. Ziskind and Kenneth I. Arvin, Esq., Global Surgical Partners offers numerous development and operational services for hospital-physician and physician-owned surgery centers, including financial reporting and cash controls, physician recruitment as well as new service development. The company employs a full-time administrator for each of its centers and maintains clinical and financial responsibility for the center.
Foundation HealthCare. Foundation HealthCare is a surgical hospital and ASC management and development company formed in 2013 when Graymark Healthcare acquired Foundation Surgical Hospital Affiliates and Foundation Surgery Affiliates. As part of its ASC business, the company partners with physicians through majority ownership investment. It also helps create joint venture relationships between surgery centers and local hospitals or health systems. It also provides development, management and acquisition services specifically geared toward sleep centers.
Hospital Corporation of America. Established in 1968, Hospital Corporation of America currently owns and operates nearly 115 ambulatory surgery centers in 20 states, as well as 165 hospitals. The company employs approximately 204,000 people and typically invests about $1.5 billion annually to keep its facilities up-to-date. Richard Bracken serves as the company's chairman and R. Milton Johnson is president and CEO. The company's ambulatory surgery division is run by Gregary W. Beasley, CPA, who has served as president of the branch since 2004. HCA's net income increased 14 percent from $423 million in the second quarter of 2013 to $483 million this year, according to the company's second quarter 2014 financial results.
Interventional Management Services. The physician-owned ASC development and management company manages a wide-range of facilities, from one-room, single-specialty surgery centers to large, multispecialty facilities and physician-hospital joint ventures. The company's services also include equity restructuring, facility syndication and medical staff development. Robin Fowler, MD, is chairman and medical director of the company and Stephen Rosenbaum serves as CEO.
Laser Spine Institute. Laser Spine Institute was established and officially incorporated in November 2004. The plan to formulate the company originated from three physicians — James St. Louis, DO, Glenn Hamburg, MD, and Michael Perry, MD. By January 2012, surgeons were performing more than 400 surgeries per month at Laser Spine Institute centers. Today, the company includes five surgery centers, with plans to open three new centers by the end of 2014 and new headquarters. LSI's goal is to deliver advanced, minimally invasive spine treatment. Bill Horne serves as the company's CEO and Dotty Bollinger is the company's president and COO.
MMX Healthcare. The company is focused on the planning and developing new ASCs, center management, accreditation preparation, compliance maintenance, financial management and restructuring as well as physician recruitment and syndication. John Seitz, a co-founder, serves as CEO and Tamar Glaser, RN, also a co-founder, serves as president. The company also offers numerous products for surgery centers, such as AccredAbility, an accreditation tracking and reporting solution and ManageMyASC, an interactive management tool.
Medical Consulting Group. William B. Rabourn Jr., is founder and managing partner of Medical Consulting Group, which offers business solutions to the healthcare community including medical practice consulting, corporate consulting, ambulatory surgery center development, management and accounting as well as turnarounds. The company's ASC division was founded by Steve Sheppard in 1998, and it has grown to include equity participations and medical billing and collections. Medical Consulting Group also provides ASCs with marketing, public relations and advertising services.
Medical Facilities Corporation. The company owns a 51 percent-plus interest in five specialty surgical hospitals as well as a 51 percent interest in an ambulatory surgery center in California. The three-OR ASC has been operating since 2004, and is a Medicare-deemed multispecialty facility accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. Donald Schellpfeffer, MD, serves as CEO of the company and Michael Salter, CPA, is CFO.
Meridian Surgical Partners. Meridian Surgical Partners focuses on financing, developing and operating ambulatory surgery centers, specialty surgical hospitals and related healthcare ancillary businesses. Three healthcare industry veterans formed the company. Meridian Surgical Partners offers physicians the following types of ASC partnership opportunities: acquisition, development, turnarounds partnerships and spine-driven ASC development and management. Meridian's CEO is John C. Wilson Jr. and the president and chief development officer is Kenneth N. Hancock.
Merritt Healthcare. Merritt Healthcare, founded in 2001, focuses on management and development of ASCs as well as provides consultation services. The company's partners and clients include hospitals and private physician groups, and Merritt has worked on a wide range of projects, from single specialty and multispecialty ASCs to hospital outpatient departments. The company also provides brokerage and turnaround services and represents ASC sellers. Matt Searles, MBA, and William Mulhall, RN, CASC, lead the company. Merritt Healthcare recently opened Western Connecticut Orthopedic Surgical Center in Danbury, Conn.
Murphy Healthcare Group. Murphy Healthcare Group has been building and rehabilitating ASCs since 1990, and today is responsible for the success of more than 30 surgery centers, with a total market capitalization of over $650 million. The company's ASC turnaround group specializes in restructuring, revitalizing and acquiring underperforming ASCs. Robert Murphy, the chairman and founder of the company, has personally played a key role in ASC turnarounds. He now focuses on strategic planning for each center as well as mergers and acquisitions. Douglas Dewey is currently Murphy Healthcare's CEO.
Nikitis Resource Group. Founded by Tom Galouzis, MD, the company provides a full range of ambulatory surgery center services, including development and management, AAAHC accreditation and operations analysis. The company's leadership includes industry veterans such as Bob Scheller, CPA, CASC, and Gregory Nowak, MD. Mr. Scheller serves CEO and COO of NRG.
Northstar Healthcare. Northstar Healthcare provides a wide array of ASC development, management, marketing, financial and legal services. The company's current CEO, Donald L. Kramer, MD, MBA, founded Palladium for Surgery-Houston in 2013, the cornerstone for Northstar Healthcare. Harry Fleming serves as president, and he brings more than 25 years of legal and business experience to his role. Northstar has expertise in developing multispecialty ASCs, and it focuses on developing centers in Dallas and Houston.
Nueterra Healthcare. Nueterra Healthcare focuses on partnering with physicians and health systems to fund, build and provide ongoing management for healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, ASCs and GI centers among others, in the United States and abroad. The company includes an integrated provider network and develops revenue-generating solutions for its partners, such as home health services, telehealth and urgent care centers. The company's international arm, Nueterra Global Alliance, includes projects in Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Davis Ayers serves as the CEO of Nueterra's U.S. operations.
Outpatient Healthcare Strategies. Outpatient Healthcare Strategies aims to offer solutions for the unique problems ASCs, hospitals and physician practices face. The company offers operational, financial and clinical services as well as business strategy services such as feasibility analysis and creating joint venture arrangements. Jessica Nantz, the company's president and founder, has held executive positions operating more than 80 facilities including ASCs, imaging centers, physical therapy centers and rehabilitation hospitals for HealthSouth. She also founded mdStrategies, Inc., an ASC coding company.
PCI | HealthDev. Formerly Physicians Capital Investments, PCI | HealthDev is owned and managed by physicians, medical industry and real estate experts. The company's name change was a part of strategy expansion initiative. Pedro Vergne-Marini, MD, a nephrologists, founded PCI | HealthDev in 2007. The company also provides solutions to help healthcare professionals achieve financial and medical real estate goals, such as NuBuild and AssetMax.
PhyBus. PhyBus offers a wide array of medical management solutions to single-specialty ASCs, multispecialty surgery centers, joint venture facilities, hospitals, physician practices and laboratories. Rodney Lunn, the founder and CEO of PhyBus, is considered by many to be the pioneer of the contemporary ASC concept. Services offered include accreditation, budgeting, compliance as well as information, billing and coding systems, managed care contracting and quality assurance services.
Physicians Endoscopy. Formed in July 1998, Physicians Endoscopy focuses on freestanding ASC development and management. The company aims to structure each partnership, whether it is a new center development, acquisition or hospital joint venture, to ensure physician control. The company also offers other value-added services such as billing services. Physicians Endoscopy management team includes CEO Barry Tanner, CFO Karen Sablyak and COO Frank Principati. The company is affiliated with 30 centers across the United States.
Physicians Surgery Centers. Glenn Cozen, CPA; Norm Lapin, JD, CPA; and Bob Trevathan, MBA, formed Physicians Surgery Centers in 1999. The company has developed and managed more than 12 surgery centers, ranging from 4,000 to 17,000 square feet and including two to seven operating rooms. The company handles the day-to-day operations of the ASCs under physician management direction. Its management team also includes Tony Knapp, Tim O'Brien, CPA; David Lippert, CPA; Nate Snyder, MBA; and Jeff Dottl, CPA.
Pinnacle III. Pinnacle III has delivered a wide range of services to maximize ASC development, management and billing since 1999. It works with single-specialty practices, physician-owned ASCs and multispecialty joint ventures with hospital partners. It provides strategic growth planning that includes feasibility studies, cost savings on supplies, day-to-day management services and billing solutions. The company's president and CEO Robert J. Carrera spent the last 15 years developing and managing ASCs, physical/occupational rehabilitation centers and other healthcare-related facilities.
Practice Partners in Healthcare. Larry Taylor founded Practice Partners in Healthcare in 2005. The company is a privately held developer, manager and minor equity shareholder in ASCs. Initially, Practice Partners in Healthcare focused on management contracts before expanding into management and ownership arrangements. The company currently has seven surgery centers in operation and six additional centers in the development phase. The company helps its clients with facility design, financing, equipment and supply procurement, scheduling, staffing, accreditation and managed care negotiations.
Quorum Health Resources. Quorum Health Resources provides a wide array of services to hospitals and physician practices, and its QHR Healthcare Affiliates leverages the company's extensive experience in operations, purchasing power and other resources to affiliate with and manage standalone surgery centers. The company was established in 1977. C.E. Bilbrey serves as president and CEO and Timothy J. Ryan serves as QHR's CFO.
Regent Surgical Health. Thomas Mallon and W. Michael Karnes established Regent Surgical Health in 2001. Today, the privately held company develops, manages and owns 21 ASCs, 16 of which are joint ventures with leading hospitals. The company focuses on finding financial solutions to increase net revenues for affiliates, and has pioneered the introducing new procedures into the ASC setting, such as spine and cardiology. Mr. Mallon and Mr. Karnes serve as the company's CEO and CFO respectively. The executive management team also includes Nap Gary as COO and Jeffrey Simmons as CDO. The company is affiliated with the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association.
Sovereign Healthcare. Founded in 2003 by Jeremy Hogue, the company focuses on developing and managing ASCs, creating joint ventures with hospital systems, co-managing acute care hospital service lines and managing the business side of large physician practices. Specifically for ASCs, the company provides turnkey services, structuring, financing and ongoing operational oversight. Sovereign Healthcare invests in surgery centers alongside physician partners and becomes a minority equity partner. The company has seven ASCs, one of which is affiliated with a hospital system.
Spine Centers of America. Spine Centers of America operates three surgery centers and employs a team of endoscopic spine surgeons who focus on performing state-of-the-art minimally invasive spine surgery techniques. SCA was founded by fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon Bryan Massoud, MD, who currently serves as head surgeon. Spine Centers of America includes three New Jersey locations — in Fair Lawn, Union and North Bergen.
SurgCenter Development. SurgCenter Development develops surgery centers throughout the United States. It provides a wide array of services to help local physicians establish ASCs, such as initial investor recruitment, real estate acquisition and lease or purchase negotiations, architect selection and construction contractor, facility design and preparation for licensing through the facility nurse manager. The typical SurgCenter Development ASC is 5,000 to 9,000 square feet, contains one to three operating rooms and takes approximately nine months to complete. The company does not charge development or management fees. SurgCenter Development shares income with physicians through an ownership interest in the center. Gregory George MD, PhD, and Sean O'Neal are the founders of the company and currently serve as two of its eight principals.
Surgem. Surgem provides ASC development, financing and operational support services. The company also provides facility initiation services, such as licensing/accreditation compliance as well as policy and procedure manual preparation. Surgem has equity in and manages 15 surgical centers, with another three in the construction and development phase. John H. Hajjar, MD, FACS, MBA, the chairman and CEO of Surgem, founded the company in 2005.
Surgery One. Surgery One has a network of four surgery centers that offer specialized outpatient services in numerous specialties, such as orthopedics, spine, ophthalmology and pain management. The company also aims to promote transparency in the cost of surgery. The company's CEO is Scott Leggett.
Surgery Partners. The company focuses on ASC acquisition, development and management. Earlier this year, Surgery Partners agreed to purchase Symbion for $792 million in cash. The former competitors created a united company based in their consolidation deal. Surgery Partners provides a wide range of strategic, operational and financial services, and takes a flexible approach with each center. Surgery Partners also includes healthcare solutions in its portfolio, such as The Alliance, a buying group for optical products and medical supplies, and Patient Education Concepts, a provider of patient education, marketing and risk management products to the ophthalmic industry. The company has partnered with 50 single-and multispecialty ASCs across the country. The leadership team includes CEO Mike Doyle, Executive Vice President and CFO Scott T. Macomber and COO Chris Throckmorton.
Surgical Care Affiliates. Surgical Care Affiliates was established in 1982 by Joel Gordon. Today, the company operates 185 healthcare facilities, including surgery centers, surgical hospitals, and hospital surgery departments, in 34 states. Surgical Care Affiliates has partnered with more than 2,000 physicians and more than 45 health systems, including Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives. The company offers clients market development, informatics and day-to-day facility management services. Andrew Hayek is president and CEO.
Surgical Development Partners. Surgical Development Partners offers turnkey ASC facility development services to physician partners as well as management services, such as managed care contracting, human resource management, regulatory compliance and governance and quality assurance. The company believes joint venturing with a hospital typically improves ASC performance, and SDP has expertise in helping ASCs navigate partnership nuances. Structured as a privately held company, SDP also provides services to acute-care hospitals, medical office buildings and imaging centers. G. Edward Alexander serves as president and CEO.
Surgical Management Professionals. Surgical Management Professionals' core services include surgery center development and management, but it also provides an array of revenue cycle solutions including coding, billing and collections services. It has served physicians, surgery centers and hospitals for more than 25 years. Surgical Management Professionals began with the establishment of Sioux Falls (S.D.) Surgical Center, a multispecialty center, and it became a separate, primarily physician-owned business entity in 2004. R. Blake Curd, MD, serves as the company's board of directors' chairman. Michael Lipomi serves as president and CEO of the company and Allison Bolger serves as CFO.
Symbion Healthcare. Symbion Healthcare's network includes 57 facilities in 24 states. The company was formed in 1999 as a combination of Ambulatory Resource Centres, an owner and operator of ASCs, and UniPhy, an operator of multispecialty clinics, independent practice associations and related outpatient services. In February 2004, the company completed an initial public offering and began trading on NASDAQ. However, in 2007, Symbion went private after its merger with Crestview Partners, a private equity firm. The company focuses on developing new facilities, acquiring established centers or joint venturing with healthcare systems. In June, Symbion was purchased by Surgery Partners for $792 million in cash. The company was originally put up for sale for $800 million by Crestview Partners in November 2013. Symbion's executive team includes Richard E. Francis, Jr., who serves as chairman of the board and CEO, and Clifford G. Adlerz, who is the president and COO.
Tenet Healthcare. This healthcare services company's comprehensive network includes 80 hospitals, 36,000 affiliated physicians and more than 190 outpatient centers. The company is investor-owned in affiliated facilities and the outpatient services division is responsible for the development and management of ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic centers. Kyle Burtnett serves as senior vice president of the outpatient services.
Texas Health Partners. Texas Health Partners was established in 2002, the result of a joint venture between Paragon Health and Texas Health Resources, one of the largest health systems in North Texas. It provides resources for development and management for healthcare facilities, including concept development, evaluation and joint venture relationships. Its projects include Texas Health Surgery Center Denton, a 12,500-square-foot outpatient surgery center. Krystal Mims serves as president of the company and Debbie Hay serves as CNO.
TRY Health Care Solutions. TRY Health Care Solutions, headquartered in Salmon, Idaho, was founded in 2005. The company was founded by Thomas R. Yerden, an experienced surgery center executive. Mr. Yerden founded Aspen Healthcare in 1992 and during his time leading the ASC firm he developed, opened and managed more than 75 surgery centers. Aspen Healthcare was sold to a leading surgery center corporation. TRY Health Care Solutions provides operational assessments, strategic planning and works with hospital-physician joint ventures and ASC mergers.
United Surgical Partners International. USPI currently owns and operates more than 200 short-stay facilities all across the United States and maintains joint venture partnerships with more than 3,000 physicians and 30 health systems. Founded in 1998, the company aims to provide high-quality care through its facilities. USPI facilities have won numerous awards, including Voyance Health's APEX Quality Award. William Wilcox serves as CEO of the company, and Brett Brodnax serves as president and chief development officer.
Vantage Outsourcing. The company provides ophthalmic instruments, medical equipment and services to hospitals and ASCs. It was established by current CEO Ann Deters as Vantage Technology, and renamed in 2009 to better reflect its focus on providing outsourced services. The company currently works with more than 150 clients in 23 states and takes a "vendor-neutral" approach to meeting its client's equipment and product needs.
Visionary Enterprises. The company, now known as VEI, was incorporated in 1982 as a wholly-owned, for-profit subsidiary of Community Hospitals Foundation. The company's primary focus became outpatient surgical services through ASCs in 1992. VEI focuses on acquisition, development and ownership of ASCs and endoscopy centers and physician practice management services as well as management of hospital surgical services departments. The company includes surgery centers located in both Indiana and Michigan.
More articles on ASC news:
10 things to know about expanding a pain management office to include an ASC
11 ASC specialty coding & billing tips
2015 independent physician outlook: 9 key points