Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) will continue to play a central role in Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s (NYSE: THC) growth strategy.
That’s according to Tenet CEO Saum Sutaria, who shared an update on his business and its outpatient surgery arm during a recent investor conference.
“The ability to do more things more efficiently and with good outcomes in the ASC setting is clear,” he said.
United Surgical Partners International (USPI), Tenet’s ASC division, is one of the company’s strongest performers in 2025, Sutaria explained.
Same-store revenue grew more than 7% in the first half of 2025, bolstered by the integration of 50 centers acquired last year. As of June 30, USPI had interests in 521 ASCs (385 consolidated) and 26 surgical hospitals (eight consolidated) in 37 states.
“We’re really pleased,” Sutaria said. “The business has exceeded our expectations for half of the year, when you look at that kind of revenue and even that growth. The integration of the assets that we acquired last year has gone well, is going well, and performing very much in line and in some cases better than our expectations across the board.”
And recent acquisitions are already generating efficiencies.
“If you think about those 50 centers we acquired sometime last year, I’m pretty sure that there’s very little left from an overhead perspective that came with that business, right?” Sutaria said. “So the ability to drive the operating leverage is an important part of what we can do.”
Tenet plans to continue directing capital to its ASC portfolio, with both organic growth and additional acquisitions on the horizon, he added.
“On the USPI side, of course, you know, we in the entire industry see the tailwind that exists, including some of the policy things that may come down the line that will support that business,” Sutaria said. “And so our ability and interest in putting capital behind that business is very high. And as we’ve indicated, the pipeline is strong, and we’ve taken our M&A guidance up for the year.”
ASCs will handle more types of procedures as doctors get more comfortable working in outpatient settings, Sutaria said.
“This gets fundamentally back to the concepts that you hear from us and others about the tailwind in this industry that will propel not only the growth in ambulatory surgery, but the growth in the types of services that can be provided in this setting,” he said.
