Several healthcare organizations have expressed interest in investing time and money into ASCs, but Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health is turning those ideas into action.
Four things to know:
1. Intermountain opened its seventh ASC in Utah with a location in Murray. The health system plans to open an additional eight ASCs in the area by 2024.
2. Intermountain and Surgery Partners signed a collaboration agreement in which Surgery Partners will take over management of Intermountain's existing ASCs in Utah and Idaho and will develop more ASCs in other select markets.
3. When asked about the health system's biggest opportunities for growth in the next three years, Janie Wade, CFO of Intermountain, told Becker's, "There's also tuck-in growth opportunities including ASCs, imaging centers and physician practice acquisitions. We don't have any large merger and acquisition targets on the horizon. It's primarily growth in our existing markets in the communities we already serve and bringing our quality of care, affordability and innovation into those communities with new providers and services."
4. Ms. Wade also told Becker's, "In some cases, it makes sense for ASCs to be wholly owned and in others it makes sense to partner with physicians in a joint venture. Sometimes we're not the experts at managing something, and we want a partner that can help us manage operations and deliver the best care and service to our patients. It depends on the market and on where the expertise is."