This article briefly highlights 53 companies that are active in ASC management and development. NOTE: THIS LIST IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF ANY COMPANY.
Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America — ASCOA provides development and management services to ASCs, offering experience in real estate, financing, staffing, training, equipping, licensure, accreditation and compliance. ASCOA currently operates 33 ASCs and has developed or turned around 50 centers since its inception. The company was formed by Brent Lambert, MD, Tom Bombardier, MD, and George Violin, MD. Its senior leadership team now also includes CEO Luke Lambert, MBA, CFA, and CFO Robert Westergard, CPA, as well as several others. The company has grown to be one of the most recognized privately-held ASC chains in the country. According to ASCOA's chairman of the board and founder, Brent Lambert, MD, the company excels in the turnaround of ASCs. "ASCOA continues to find opportunities for turning around financially-troubled centers throughout the country," he says. www.ascoa.com
Ambulatory Surgical Group — ASG was founded in 2008 by long-term ASC veteran John Seitz. The company provides development, management and revenue cycle services. www.ambulatorysurgicalgroup.com
AmSurg — AmSurg, one of the few publicly-traded ASC companies, specializes in developing and managing 3,000- to 4,500-square-foot single-specialty centers. It currently manages approximately 170 ASCs, which primarily perform gastrointestinal endoscopy, ophthalmology, orthopedics and ENT procedures. The company is led by CEO and President Christopher Holden, who has accelerated the company's growth and acquisition pace since his hiring. The company acquired more than 10 centers in 2009. AmSurg reported net earnings of $167.9 million in the third quarter of 2009 — an 11 percent increase over the company's earnings in third quarter of 2008. www.amsurg.com
Acumen Healthcare — Acumen, headquartered in Georgia and Texas, works with both physician-owned and physician/hospital joint-venture ASCs. The company provides development, operation, accounting and other services on a non-equity basis. Its leadership team includes Tom Pritchett and Andy King, the company's co-founder, who each have nearly 20 years of experience in the ASC industry. www.acumen-healthcare.com
ASC Strategies — ASC Strategies is a privately-held ASC consulting company that works with hospitals, physicians and other professionals to help them develop and operate surgery centers. Led by ASC veterans Joan Dentler and Jessica Nantz, ASC Strategies specializes in conducting ASC assessments to review all aspects of existing center operations and identify opportunities to improve profitability, efficiency and quality of care. In addition, ASC Strategies assists clients with ongoing operational oversight, CEO services, financial forecasting, strategic planning, as well as project feasibility, development and accreditation/licensing preparation. The company currently provides consulting services to more than 20 health systems, surgery centers and academic medical centers.www.ascstrategies.com
ASD Management — ASD Management (formerly Woodrum/Ambulatory Systems Development) is one of the largest and oldest privately-funded ASC companies in the United States. Since 1986, its principals have developed, owned and operated more than 100 ASCs and ambulatory care businesses. The company is an operations-focused management and development firm that specializes in turnaround strategies for existing ASCs and de-novo development and management for physician-owned and physician/hospital joint ventures. The company is led by partners Bob Zasa, who is based in Los Angeles, and Joe Zasa, JD, who is based in Dallas, and currently oversees a roster of 30 surgery centers throughout the United States. www.asdmanagement.com
Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners — Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners focuses extensively on spine, multi-specialty and physician/hospital joint-venture ASCs. The company was founded by ASC veteran Jeff Leland, who was previously a developer of ASCs at ASCOA. The company has developed 10 centers and has a reputation for forging strong physician relationships. The company is currently led by Mr. Leland, who serves as managing partner, and Jay Rom, CPA, who serves as president. Blue Chip continues to open new ASCs and recently opened a spine-focused multi-specialty surgery center in Lincoln, Neb., and a hospital joint-venture project in Portland, Ore., with partners who include community surgeons and Providence Health System. www.bluechipsurgical.com
Cirrus Health — Cirrus specializes in the management and development of ASCs and multi-specialty and single-specialty surgical hospitals. The company is led by Chairman and acting CEO Donald Wilson, COO G. Taylor Wilson and CFO Wayne Sparks. It has several hospitals and surgery centers in operation and continues to pursue growth. Cirrus is currently involved with managing 10 centers in California and the southern part of the United States. www.cirrushealth.com
The C/N Group — Founded in 1980 by Ravi Chopra, who currently serves as president and CEO, The C/N Group participates in the development, operation and ownership of outpatient healthcare facilities, including ASCs, diagnostic imaging centers and multi-specialty clinics. Family-owned and operated, the company has worked with more than 50 centers since its inception in 1985 and currently employs more than 200 people at its various facilities. Other members of the executive team include Rum Chopra, chief information officer, and Raj Chopra, director of strategic planning. The C/N Group's services include project development, healthcare management and healthcare consulting. The C/N Group's background in financing is significant, with more than 20 years of experience in developing healthcare projects by utilizing corporate, partnership and joint-venture ownership vehicles. www.thecng.com
Congero Development — Congero, which was traditionally a developer, has grown to provide management and development services to ASCs and other types of healthcare facilities. Led by Bruce Wallace, CEO, and Gary Savlov, president, the company is a minority owner in its centers and helps with the syndication and all aspects of the operating company. www.congerodev.com
Constitution Surgery Centers — Based in Newington, Conn., Constitution Surgery Centers operates 12 single- and multi-specialty ASCs in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Founded in 1997, the company is led by Co-Founder, President and CEO Kristian M. Mineau II. Mr. Mineau was also the founding president of the Connecticut Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. In 2009, the company opened the Greater Springfield (Mass.) Surgery Center, a single-specialty ASC focused on urology. www.cscus.net
Covenant Surgical Partners — Nashville, Tenn.-based Covenant Surgical Partners is led by Michael Koban, Jr., chairman of the board of directors, Richard Jacques, president and CEO, and Marnix E. Heersink, MD, vice chairman of the board of directors and chief medical officer. Mr. Koban has more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive in hospital management, while Mr. Jacques has more than 15 years in the ASC industry, including holding positions at Surgical Health Group and AmSurg. Covenant acquires and operates single- and limited-specialty surgery centers in partnership with physicians. The privately-held company currently manages six surgery centers, and helps physician-owners to diversify their assets by acquiring part of their surgery center equity. After acquiring centers, Covenant works to recruit physicians and add value to increase the overall dollar worth of a center. Covenant provides comprehensive management services after acquiring a center to increase efficiencies and improve profitability. www.covenantsurgicalpartners.com
Elite Surgical Affiliates — Elite Surgical Affiliates, based in Houston, manages and has an interest in ambulatory surgical facilities with surgeons. It was founded by Lori Ramirez, CEO, who has more than 12 years experience in surgical development, operations and management. She has partnered with more than 350 surgeons and has played a critical role in recruiting more than 100 new surgeons to ASCs. Elite Surgical Affiliates currently manages two ASCs and has four centers under development. Ms. Ramirez has extensive experience in creating joint ventures with health systems such as Memorial Hermann in Houston and CHRISTUS Health System in South Texas — a project that included 14 facilities. www.elitesurgicalaffiliates.com
Facilities Development & Management — FDM is a for-profit limited liability corporation that provides consultative, developmental and managerial services for outpatient surgery centers throughout the United Sates. The company, founded in 1992, serves as an agent of change helping to formulate policy on providing outpatient ambulatory services that will be reflective of quality surgical services for physicians and consumers. FDM partners in de novo centers with physicians and hospitals, and re-syndicates existing ASCs. The company is led by Ed Hetrick, president and CEO, and Ellen Johnson, vice president and COO. Since its inception, the company has developed more than 45 ASCs that are either Medicare-certified and/or state-licensed. www.facdevmgt.com
Foundation Surgery Affiliates — FSA is an ASC management and development company focused on partnering with physicians and employees to create an outstanding patient experience while maximizing partner and shareholder value. FSA was founded in 1996 by Thomas A. Michaud, a pioneer in the ASC industry, who continues to oversee the company's significant growth as chairman of the board. FSA offers turnkey management and development solutions for physician partners and is led by Jon Friesen, president, who joined the company in 2002. FSA partners with physicians through investment in a minority ownership position, usually between 10-40 percent, and currently operates 14 ASCs in five states. All of the ASCs the company operates are multi-specialty facilities. Specialties that the company has experience overseeing in the ASC setting include, but are not limited to, orthopedics, ENT, pain management, GI, gynecology, ophthalmology, podiatry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, urology and bariatric surgery. www.foundationsurgery.com
Foundation Surgical Hospital Affiliates — FSHA was formed in 2008 from the success of the outpatient surgery company, Foundation Surgery Affiliates. Founder of both entities, Thomas A. Michaud, CEO, created FSHA to focus on the development and management of surgical hospitals and the inclusion of ancillary service lines, such as hyperbarics, sleeps labs, intraoperative monitoring and robotic surgery. The company specializes in ASC to surgical hospital conversions, surgical hospital acquisition opportunities and new surgical hospital projects. FSHA provides a number of services to its surgeon partners including additional physician partner recruitment, site selection, building design, financial arrangements, equipment and supply purchasing, managed care contracting and day-to-day management of surgical facilities. www.foundationhospitals.com
Global Surgical Partners — GSP focuses exclusively on the development and management of physician/hospital and physician-owned joint-venture ASCs. The company acquires minority interests in its center and currently manages eight surgery centers. Under the GSP model, each centers' activities are decentralized, but administrators are employed by GSP. The company is led by J. A. Ziskind, president and CEO, and Ken Arvin, Esq., CFO and general counsel. GSP provides a variety of services to its ASCs including budgeting, risk management, marketing and public relations, performance improvement and legal oversight. www.globalsurgicalpartners.com
HCA — HCA is the largest for-profit operator of hospitals in the country. HCA currently operates approximately 105 freestanding surgery centers as well as 163 hospitals in 20 states and the United Kingdom. The company had revenues of $22.47 billion during the first nine months of 2009, ending Sept. 30, 2009. HCA's ambulatory surgery division is led by President Gregary Beasley. Mr. Beasley has been with HCA for nearly 15 years, starting as an operations director for the ambulatory surgery division. www.hcahealthcare.com
Health Inventures — Health Inventures, founded by Richard Hanley, was one of the original non-equity management and development companies focused in the ASC industry. It is now often an equity partner in joint ventures as well as a manager and developer. Richard Hanley and the rest of the company's management team have launched more than 100 surgery centers, surgical hospitals, imaging centers and medical office buildings, and managed more than $1 billion in revenues during their careers. The company currently manages more than 25 ASCs across the country and provides a variety of services to healthcare facilities including outpatient strategy development, feasibility, development and operations preparation, acquisition and merger facilitation, and clinical, quality and financial management. www.healthinventures.com
HealthMark Partners — HealthMark Partners invests in and operates in single- and multi-specialty ASCs in joint venture with physicians and, in some cases, physicians and hospitals. The company is led by Bill Southwick, CEO and president, and provides a number of management services including development and acquisition, operational management and governance, capitalization and financing. HealthMark Partners currently has or is developing nearly 20 ASCs around the country and specializes in de novo and turnaround ASCs. HealthMark Partners previously combined with another ASC company, Alliance Surgery, which brought ASC veteran Charlie Neal to the HealthMark team. www.healthmarkpartners.com
Innovative Surgical Solutions Management — ISSM partners with physicians and health systems to develop and operate ASCs. Founded in 2001, the company's senior leadership has developed or managed more than 100 ASCs across the country. ISSM is led by D. Jeffrey Sapp, former vice president of development for USPI, and Nancy Kastner. The company provides a number of consulting services including funding and capital and design and development as well as services for managing day-to-day operations. www.innsurg.com
Interventional Management Services — Interventional Management Services is a physician-owned ASC management and development company which provides management services to surgery centers with a physician-focused strategy. Centers managed by IMS range from small, one-room, single-specialty ASCs to large, multi-specialty, physician-hospital joint ventures. With its corporate office in Atlanta, IMS has affiliate ASCs in Georgia, Texas and New Mexico, and continues to expand throughout the country. The company is led by Robin J. Fowler, MD, chairman and medical director, a board-certified anesthesiologist and a leading pain practitioner in the east Atlanta area since 2005, and Stephen Rosenbaum, CEO. Mr. Rosenbaum has more than 15 years of healthcare experience, including positions such as vice president of finance for development at MedCath and principal of SourceRevenue, an independent healthcare consulting firm. www.interventionalmanagementservices.com
Medical Consulting Group — MCG is a national firm specializing in medical consulting, both at the surgical practice and corporate levels. MCG provides ASC development and management solutions for single, multi-specialty and hospital joint-venture facilities. It offers both fee- and equity-based partnerships, along with ongoing facility management, including billing and collections services. Its ASC leadership team includes Stephen Sheppard, CPA, COE, and Rob McCarville, MPA. MCG has completed over 20 centers and currently has more than 10 ASCs under various stages of development. In addition to developing centers, the company also provides a number of management services including facility management, personnel management, promotional management and billing services. www.medcgroup.com
Medical Facilities Corp. — MCF has a majority interest in two ASCs and four specialty surgical hospitals in South Dakota, Oklahoma and California. The company is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and was developed by the physicians of Black Hills Surgery Center and Sioux Falls Surgical Center in South Dakota. The company is led by Donald Schellpfeffer, MD, who is also medical director of Sioux Falls Surgical Hospital, which he co-founded in 1985, and president of Anesthesia Associates, the largest anesthesia services provider in South Dakota. Larry Teuber, MD, a board-certified neurological surgeon and physician executive of Black Hills Surgery Center, serves as MCF's president. The company's management philosophy focuses on the efficiency and productivity of its facilities while growing the facilities through attracting and retaining quality healthcare professionals and expanding procedures and facilities. www.medicalfacilitiescorp.ca
Medical Surgical Partners — MSP offers turnkey development and consulting services to ASCs that remain 100-percent locally owned and managed. MSP does not require any ownership equity in a facility. The company is led by David Thoene, who has 27 years of experience consulting for and developing ASCs throughout the United States. Before founding MSP, Mr. Thoene was the vice president of development for FSC Health and Titan Health Corp. and founded the development arm of Randlett Associates. Since 1982, Mr. Thoene has developed and consulted for more than 40 physician-owned ASCs and surgical hospitals and hospital/physician joint-venture surgery centers. www.medicalsurgicalpartners.com
Meridian Surgical Partners — Meridian Surgical Partners was formed by three veterans of the healthcare industry to provide financial, management and development support to grow physician-owned ASCs and surgical hospitals. The company currently manages 10 centers across the country, from the Pacific Northwest, to Pennsylvania and Florida. Founders CEO Buddy Bacon, President and Chief Development Officer Kenny Hancock and Executive Vice President and COO Cathy Kowalski, RN, head up an outstanding management team. The company uses its proprietary "PEAK" management approach, which focuses on performance, efficiency, achievement and knowledge. Meridian focuses on these four cornerstones in every aspect of management — such as financial, operational, clinical, information technology — to improve ASC performance. The company completed several acquisitions during 2009 and is currently in negotiations with several physician-owned ASCs about partnering with the company. Same-store sales also increased among Meridian's partnerships in 2009 with same-store sales growth for the first six months of 2009, ended June 30, 2009, of 13 percent. www.meridiansurg.com
Mowles Medical Practice Management — MMPM is one of the leading companies in the country with respect to the development of pain management centers. CEO Amy Mowles has an expertise in pain management that is almost unequaled in the ASC industry. To date, MMPM has developed more than 30 ASCs and physician practices in the United States. www.mowles.com
National Surgical Hospitals — NSH is one of the leading developers and managers of surgical facilities, including ASCs and surgical hospitals. The company is led by John Rexwaller, chairman, president and CEO, who is a Rhodes Scholar and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. By focusing the company principally on owning and developing hospitals with physicians, the very deep management team has been able to demonstrate proven results. NSH currently manages 23 surgical facilities across the country. www.nshinc.com
National Surgical Care — NSC develops, manages and invests in nearly 20 ASCs across the country. In 2008, centers managed by NSC performed more than 111,000 cases, had more than 325 surgeon partners and six hospital partners. NSC is led by Sami Abbasi, chairman and CEO, Rick Pence, president and COO, and Greg Cunniff, CFO. The company provides a number of management services to its centers including financial reporting, IT services, managed care contracting, risk management, human resources, marketing, purchasing and physician recruitment. NSC also promotes continuous learning and challenges center employees and corporate employees to work collaboratively and continue learning to make each center the strongest it can be. www.natsurgcare.com
Nikitis Resource Group — NRG provides management and development as well as consulting services to ASCs. It also offers services for managing AAAHC accreditation preparation. The company focuses on identifying performance indicators and developing benchmarks to help keep their ASCs on track. NRG was founded by Tom Galouzis, MD, and its leadership includes such industry veterans as Bob Scheller, CPA, CASC, and Dawn McLane, RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR. The company currently has management and/or consultative contracts with 12 ASCs. www.nrgaschopd.com
Northstar Healthcare — Northstar Healthcare, in connection with physician partners, develops, owns and operates significant outpatient surgery centers in concentrated markets. Northstar's five facilities in both Houston and Dallas, Texas, accommodate multi-specialty procedures with an emphasis on pain management, orthopedics, podiatry, general surgery, GI and ENT. The company was founded by Donald Kramer, MD, and a group of Canadian investors and recently appointed Steve Linehan as CEO. The company is traded under the symbol NHC on the Toronto Stock Exchange. www.northstar-healthcare.com
NovaMed — NovaMed acquires, develops and manages surgery centers in partnership with physicians. The company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange. Founded in 1995, the company went public in 1999. The leadership team includes Tom Hall, chairman, president and CEO, Bill Kennedy, senior vice president of business development, and John Lawrence, senior vice president and general counsel. The company has an outstanding reputation as a high-integrity company and currently manages more than 30 ASC locations throughout the country. The company increased its revenue by 8 percent to nearly $38.8 million during the third quarter of 2009. For the nine months of 2009, ended Sept. 30, 2009, total net revenue grew to $116.6 million, up 11 percent from approximately $105 million for the first nine months of 2008. www.novamed.com
Nueterra Healthcare — Nueterra Healthcare partners with physicians and hospitals to develop and manage community hospitals, surgical hospitals, ASCs and physical therapy centers including new development, joint ventures, acquisitions and turnarounds. Since 1997, Nueterra has worked with more than 1,200 physicians and established more than 85 surgical and outpatient facilities across the country. Nueterra recently expanded its service lines to the healthcare industry to include Nueterra Real Estate, a developer of medical and commercial real estate and Nueterra Capital Management, a venture capital firm that expands our partner’s investment opportunities. www.nueterra.com
Orion Medical Services — Orion offers a turnkey approach to ASC development and management. Founded by President and CEO James Cobb, the company currently has a number of centers on the West Coast. Orion has specialized experience and expertise in neurospine surgery centers and continues to evolve nationally. Orion oversees all aspects of a project from financial feasibility analysis to site management and operational development. The company also identifies and manages risk issues inherent in ASC projects. Orion recently broke ground on a multi-specialty ASC in The Dalles, Ore., and is nearing completion on an orthopedic ASC in Corvallis, Ore. www.orionmedicalservices.com
Ortmann Healthcare Consultants — Ortmann Healthcare Consultants, founded by President and CEO Fred Ortmann, specializes in hospital/physician joint ventures but also does a significant amount of work for physician-owned facilities. The company currently manages nine ASCs, and the company's leadership has been involved with the design, development and operation of more than 60 ASCs. www.ortmannhealth.com
Physicians Endoscopy — PE is focused exclusively on developing and managing single-specialty endoscopy centers. PE has an outstanding core management team and typically owns a minority interest in the centers it manages. Founded in 1998, the company currently manages 17 endoscopy centers and is led by Barry Tanner, CPA, president and CEO. Mr. Tanner joined PE in July 1999 after serving as CFO and co-founder of Navix Radiology Systems, a physician practice management company based in Miami. PE provides a number of "umbrella" business solutions to its clients including its True Partner Program and its 360-degree Total Management Program. www.endocenters.com
Pinnacle III — Pinnacle III is a leading provider of development and management services to physician-driven ASCs as well as hospital joint ventures. Pinnacle III's leadership team includes Rick DeHart, CEO, Rob Carrera, president, and Scott Thomas, executive vice president. The company offers both equity and non-equity models, though it is focusing on the expansion of its surgical network through equity ownership. In addition to its development services, Pinnacle III provides a wide array of other services to ASCs including coding, billing and collections, facility reviews, feasibility studies and financial forecasting. Since 1999, the company has delivered a comprehensive range of services and solutions to more than 30 ASCs — from single-specialty, physician-owned ASCs, to multi-specialty joint ventures with hospital partners. Pinnacle III currently manages eight facilities and is developing four more. www.pinnacleiii.com
Practice Partners in Healthcare — Practice Partners is a privately-held, Birmingham, Ala.-based corporation dedicated to the provision of management and operational services to ASCs within the United States. It specializes in de novo and turnaround situations, and holds minority interests in its centers. Practice Partners is led by President and CEO Larry Taylor and COO Mike Rickman. The company currently manages nine ASCs in Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama, and its business model is physician-centric and focused on hands-on management. In order to achieve its objective of meeting the needs of physician partners in the communities where it operates, Practice Partners works to excel in clinical performance, operational efficiencies and physician customer service. www.practicepartners.org
Regent Surgical Health — Regent is an experienced surgery center developer and manager, and developer of physician-owned hospitals across the country. Regent's leadership team helps physician partners and hospitals to develop new surgery centers and also works to turn around existing ASCs. Founded in 2001 by Harvard Business School alumni Tom Mallon and Mike Karnes, the company currently works with 18 facilities, several of which have hospital owners. Regent recently announced its latest joint venture with local physicians and Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., to develop and manage Summit Surgery Center at Saint Mary's Galena. This is the second joint venture between Regent and Saint Mary's, a member of the Catholic Healthcare West system, following the successful turnaround of an underperforming ASC in Reno. www.regentsurgicalhealth.com
RMC MedStone Capital — RMC MedStone Capital was established when RM Crowe, a leading real estate developer and property manager in Dallas, Texas, purchased TruMedical Partners. RMC MedStone has put together a dynamic leadership team led by President Michael Lipomi, a recognized leader in the ambulatory healthcare revolution. RMC MedStone currently manages two ASCs and a surgical hospital in Modesto, Calif. The RMC MedStone model is to acquire an appropriate percentage of each facility and to manage the operations and growth of the facility's caseload and profitability through its affiliated entity, RMC MedStone Management. RMC MedStone Capital's plan for growth includes the addition of surgery centers and hospitals throughout the country, including both existing facilities and de novo projects. www.medstonecapital.com
Surgical Care Affiliates — SCA currently operates 127 ASCs and three surgical hospitals across the country and now has more than 2,000 physician partners. The company is led by President and CEO Andrew Hayek, who joined SCA in May 2008 after serving as president of VillageHealth. SCA provides a number of management services to ASCs including accounts payable, legal services, managed care contracting, facility operations support, human resources and clinical services. Its scale and experience provides numerous benefits to physician partners including lower costs, management expertise and access to national relationships. The company announced several new partnerships in 2009 including Surgical Center of Oklahoma, Hawaii Pacific Health Partners, Twin Cities Orthopedics and St. Cloud Orthopedic Associates. www.scasurgery.com
Sovereign Healthcare — Sovereign Healthcare is a privately-held company based in Orange County, Calif., that partners with physicians for the ownership and management of ASCs. The company is lead by Jeremy Hogue, president and CEO, who also works as an investor and consultant to numerous other healthcare-related ventures. Sovereign Healthcare's seven current facilities are located in California and Arizona. www.sovereignhealthcare.net
Surgem — Surgem provides physician-centered development, management and operations oversight for ASCs. The company is led by John Hajjar, MD, chairman, CEO and chief medical officer, who developed one of the first ASCs in New Jersey and has been managing facilities profitably since 1992. Other leaders include COO Larry Trenk, formerly from USPI, and CFO Brian D'Ercole. Surgem is currently involved with 13 ASCs in New Jersey, New York and Florida. www.surgem.com
Surgery Center Partners — Founded by Samuel Marcus, MD, PhD, and George Tinawi, MD, Surgery Center Partners has a physician-centered approach that provides physician partners with majority control of their surgery centers. It offers planning and development, staffing and management, and billing and financial services to the centers it manages. Surgery Center Partners has more than 16 affiliated ASCs, a majority of which are single-specialty endoscopy centers. www.surgerycenterpartners.com
Surgery Consultants of America — Surgery Consultants of America develops and manages ASCs in partnership with local physicians. The company, founded by Caryl Serbin, RN, BSN, LHRM, works often with physician/hospital joint ventures and physician-owned centers. Surgery Consultants of America is often brought in to improve the billing and collections of centers and to provide turnaround management for centers that have the capacity to succeed. However, the company provides a full range of management services including operational development, funding recommendations, license and accreditation, governing body guidance, human resources and service agreements. Ms. Serbin also founded Serbin Surgery Center Billing, a successful affiliate company that provides billing and collections services to ASCs. During 2009, SSCB extended its service line to include insurance verification, patient financial consulting, managed care contracting and fee schedule review. www.surgecon.com
Surgery One — Surgery One manages four multi-specialty ASCs in the San Diego, Calif. area. The four centers offer orthopedic, sports medicine, pain management and bariatric services. The four locations include a network of physicians and offer cutting-edge technology to perform surgical services. www.surgeryone.com
Surgical Development Partners — SDP develops and manages surgical facilities including ASCs and acute-care hospitals. The company has completed surgery center development projects in a number of states including Georgia, Ohio, New Mexico and Tennessee. SDP is led by Founder, President and CEO G. Edward Alexander. Before founding SDP, Mr. Alexander founded Surgical Alliance Corp., a company focused on the development and management of musculoskeletal hospitals. SDP currently has eight projects under development. www.surgicaldevelopmentpartners.com
Surgical Health Group — The leadership team of Surgical Health Group has developed more than 150 ASCs in the United States over the past 17 years. The team is led by Rodney Lunn, who was a founder of AmSurg. Surgical Health Group provides a wide array of development and management services including choosing site location, securing financing, overseeing design and construction, budgeting, staffing, accreditation and negotiating contracts. www.surgicalhealthgroup.com
Surgical Management Professionals — SMP specializes in the management and development of ASCs and surgical specialty hospitals. SMP is led by R. Blake Curd, MD, chairman and interim CEO, who is also a board member of Physician Hospitals of America as well as a state legislator in South Dakota. The company provides comprehensive management and development services to more than 10 ASCs throughout the Midwest and Canada. The company has recently been involved in a number of hospital joint-venture ASCs in CON states, and provides a number of management services to its clients including assisting in the development of a comprehensive surgical center vision, developing a culture of quality, service and efficiency, and the day-to-day management of centers while maintaining the long-term strategic positioning of an ASC. www.surgicalmanprof.com
Symbion Healthcare — Symbion develops, acquires and operates ASCs and surgical hospitals throughout the United States. This company has one of the most stable leadership teams in the industry including Chairman Richard Francis and President Cliff Adlerz. The company was founded in 1999 and now is partnered with private equity firm Crestview Partners. The company currently manages nearly 50 ASCs and three surgical hospitals throughout the United States, and provides both comprehensive development and management services to ASCs, including strategic and pre-operational planning, financial management, quality assurance and regulatory compliance and operational oversight. www.symbion.com
Titan Health Corp. — Titan, established in 1999, manages and develops specialty-focused surgery centers with an emphasis on orthopedics, spine and neurosurgery and pain management, on a national basis. Titan's leadership includes such industry leaders as Chairman David Hall, President and CEO Marc Jang, and CFO Boyd Faust, CPA. Titan typically maintains a minority interest position and has a solid reputation as a smart and trustworthy partner. The company currently manages 16 ASCs across the United States. www.titanhealth.com
TRY Healthcare Solutions — TRY Healthcare Solutions was founded by Tom Yerden, an ASC veteran and who previously founded Aspen Healthcare, which was sold under his leadership to TLC and then to National Surgical Care. The company provides consulting services for de novo hospital/physician partnership models, expanding existing outpatient surgery enterprises, resyndications and operational improvement and profitability strategies. Mr. Yerden has helped establish more than 35 ASC joint ventures since 1992. http://www.tryhealthsolutions.com
United Surgical Partners International — USPI develops and manages more than 150 different facilities, principally surgery centers. Most of its centers have a non-profit health system joint-venture partner. Its leadership team includes veterans such as Chairman Don Steen and CEO Bill Wilcox. USPI was founded in 1998 by Mr. Steen and major stockholder Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe. The company went public in 2001 and was taken private again in April 2007. The company's facilities are designed to enhance the quality of care and the healthcare experience of patients; offer significant administrative, clinical and economic benefits to physicians; enhance a health system's ability to align with physicians and grow market share; and offer an efficient and low–cost alternative to payors. The company acquires and develops its facilities through the formation of strategic relationships with physicians and healthcare systems in an effort to provide better access and serve the communities in which they operate. www.unitedsurgical.com