Hospital ambulatory surgery center (ASC) investment activity is surging.
That’s according to the soon-to-be-released Annual Hospital Leadership ASC Survey from Avanza Healthcare Strategies. HST Pathways previewed some of the major takeaways from the report in a LinkedIn post on Dec. 4.
HST Pathways is a Nashville, Tennessee-based company that provides software and data services for the ASC market. On its end, Avanza Healthcare Strategies provides consulting services to hospitals, ASCs and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs).
Among the previewed findings, the LinkedIn post notes that 57% of hospitals in 2024 own two or more ambulatory surgery centers, which is up 10% compared to 2023. And within that group, many own five or more ASCs, according to Avanza founder Joan Dentler.
“It’s grown every year – for hospitals and health systems to not just have one ASC, but to have two or more,” Dentler said in a conversation with HST Pathways’ Nick Latz.
What’s more, the vast majority of hospitals plan to grow their ASC footprint as well. In Avanza’s Annual Hospital Leadership ASC Survey, 90% of respondents said they planned to grow their ASC portfolios – a sizable jump compared to the 70% of respondents who said the same thing in 2023.
“These aren’t rare anymore,” Dentler continued. “They’re definitely something that hospitals are realizing they’re going to need in almost all of their markets.”
Additionally, hospitals see ASC as an important tool for attracting and retaining surgeons. More than half of hospitals who participated in the Annual Hospital Leadership ASC Survey said an ASC is required for recruiting surgeons, with another 40% viewing ASCs as a helpful advantage, according to the LinkedIn post.
One of the most noticeable changes in the 2024 report compared to past editions is the share of hospitals that let physicians invest in ASCs, Dentler pointed out.
“That’s jumped up a lot this year, compared to previous years,” she said in her conversation with Latz.
About 70% of the hospital respondents that participated in the survey said they allowed employed physicians to invest.
“That’s been one of the biggest changes that we’ve seen in the ownership structure in the 2024 survey,” Dentler said.
There are several reasons as to why hospitals are doubling down on their ASC strategies.
For starters, health care consumers are now demanding a more convenient, consumer-friendly experience, and ASCs check those boxes. Additionally, ASCs are also seeing greater volumes of higher-acuity procedures.
Those tailwinds are likely to persist well into the future.
“We’re really seeing ambulatory surgery centers as replacing outpatient surgery at the hospital, in the main hospital, and they’re really trying to push it out more and more to the other markets they’re serving,” Dentler emphasized.
