Image by freestocks-photos from PixabayUnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is the largest health care company in the U.S. It’s also one of the quietest, too, often preferring to operate under the radar as it expands its clinical capabilities, experiments with new payment frameworks and executes on M&A.
That low-key strategy applies to UnitedHealth Group’s ambulatory surgery center (ASC) arm as well. SCA Health is one of the largest ASC networks in the nation, yet UnitedHealth Group leaders rarely provide updates on the business during investor presentations or quarterly earnings calls.
So when UnitedHealth Group goes out of its way to call attention to ASCs and SCA Health, it’s worth pointing out.
On Aug. 21, UnitedHealth Group published an article on its corporate website highlighting the value that ASCs provide to both patients and surgeons alike. The article featured several leaders from within the SCA Health network, including Marie Edler, the group’s chief growth officer.
Edler explained how ASCs can “make a big difference” in terms of patient experience.
“It’s a smaller environment where the staff is solely focused on outpatient surgical care,” Edler said. “From the front desk to post-op, everything is about getting the patient in and out safely and comfortably.”
UnitedHealth Group and its care delivery arm, Optum, bought SCA Health in 2017. According to its website, SCA Health serves over 2 million patients each year across more than 370 clinical locations and 400 physician practice clinics.
In the same article UnitedHealth Group published highlighting the value of ASCs, Dr. John Nelson, medical director and chief of staff of Kelsey-Seybold’s ASCs in Texas, outlined the clear savings tied to the model.
“The same procedure costs 30% less in a hospital outpatient department and 40% less in a freestanding ASC when compared to a hospital,” Nelson said. “If we can do the same procedure with a better experience and lower cost, why wouldn’t we?”
Julie Jacobson, director of ASCs for Optum Care Washington, echoed that idea.
“It’s much more cost-effective,” Jacobson said. “And outcomes tend to be better in an outpatient setting, where patients come in healthy and leave healthy.”
Organizationally, UniteHealth Group and Optum have been working to shift many of its clinical assets into value-based care arrangements. The health care giant sees ASCs as “central” to the shift toward value-based care.
“You can’t practice value-based care without considering site of service,” Nelson said. “The right patient, right operation, right time, right location – that’s what ASCs are all about.”
Recently, UnitedHealth Group and Optum leaders explained that when Optum Health’s care delivery assets operate via a fee-for-service payment structure, they often do so with low or negative margins.
In addition to ambulatory surgical care, Optum Health includes home care and medical practices, some of which are not yet fully accountable but support value-based care.
“These together account for 15% of Optum Health’s revenues,” Optum CEO Patrick Conway said in July during a Q2 2025 earnings call. “Most of these businesses are performing well and operate at low double-digit margins. However, the primary care and multi-specialty medical practices that are not yet fully accountable are running at negative margins – generating hundreds of millions of losses this year alone – placing the overall fee-for-service care delivery business in the mid-single digit margin range.”
UnitedHealth Group has continued to invest in SCA Health and surgical care since entering the space.
Among the recent moves was the purchase of OrthoAlliance late last year. Additionally, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in August that SCA Health had quietly acquired U.S. Digestive Health from Amulet Capital Partners at the beginning of 2025.
