Scaling an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) platform means more than adding new centers.
This is the view of Mark Langston, the new CEO of Compass Surgical Partners, who stepped into the top job at the beginning of what promises to be a big year for the growing ASC management company.
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based Compass has more than 40 ASCs that it has developed or manages in its network.
“We want to start building our foundation further so that when we’re at 100 facilities, we’ve got the infrastructure well ahead of it,” Langston told ASC News.
With Langston at the helm alongside other recently appointed members of the leadership team, Compass is preparing for “tremendous growth” this year and next by building the infrastructure to support expansion, from centralized enterprise services to real-time operational data delivered directly to the field.
The company’s strategy is to build on this foundation to pursue a market-by-market approach focused on aligning with the objectives of individual partners — a contrast with what he characterized as one-size-fits-all, “cookie-cutter” models.
“We are positioned well because we are nimble, we’re the right size, we’re not tied to anyone anywhere, and we have the ability to be judicious and quick to make decisions,” Langston said.
A planned transition
The leadership transition, planned since Langston’s hire as chief development officer last year, comes as Compass aims to double its roster of health system partners in 2026.
A roughly 30-year career spanning both operations and development roles offers the advantage of exposure to both worlds, Langston explained, from day-to-day management of individual centers to overseeing mergers and de novo development.
At one prior organization, Langston worked through multiple ownership and growth phases, including a public-company turnaround, private equity–backed expansion, an IPO and a subsequent acquisition by a major health care corporation. He later participated in a carve-out that left the company operating as a smaller, growth-oriented platform.
Those experiences, he said, shaped his belief that organizations need to invest in infrastructure ahead of growth.
“It’s really hard to catch up,” Langston said. “So we are making sure that we’re investing along the way — and ahead — so that we’re staying on top of things.”
A bespoke partnership model
Langston described Compass as a nimble, unencumbered platform that can tailor its ASC strategy to the specific needs of each health system partner.
As he described it: “The health system is the hand. Our job is to cut the glove that strategically fits that hand.”
For example, one partner might be interested in geographic expansion, whereas another might be more interested in diversifying into new specialties. Rather than adhering to a predetermined playbook, Compass begins with a granular assessment of each partner’s situation, Langston said.
“Part of our value proposition is understanding the components of the geography and understanding the strengths of the system — understanding what the system’s willing to do and [being] able to get to a quick plan that we align around,” he explained. “That’s really where we’re differentiated.”
Growth through density
Compass aims to double its roster of health system partnerships in 2026, Langston said.
To that end, the company’s near-term growth strategy centers on building dense regional ASC networks rather than pursuing isolated facilities across disparate markets.
“We don’t want to do it just anywhere,” he said. “We want to do it in population centers where we can have the right health system partner.”
As an example, he pointed to Compass’ work with partner Baptist Health in Florida. The company has developed a network inside the Jacksonville market and is now pursuing additional deals beyond the core management services agreement (MSA).
People, processes, technology and tools
Langston framed infrastructure-development efforts around four core elements: people, processes, technology and tools.
In the near term, Compass is working to further centralize enterprise services, improve integration across acquired and de novo centers, and scale shared resources such as group purchasing and benefits platforms, he said.
Those process changes are intended to improve both profitability and consistency across the company’s ASC portfolio.
“We’ve built de novo facilities, we’ve acquired centers,” Langston said. “So continuing to improve on our integration aspects so that we’re able to take advantage of those centralized scale attributes, … that will help us, from a unit economics perspective, drive strong profitability back to every individual site.”
As for technology, Compass is building a homegrown data platform designed to deliver continuously updated insights to administrators, physicians and clinicians. Langston said the system is intended to reduce the burden on center leaders.
“Our job is to push the data to people, not make them go find it,” he said.
Securing and retaining top talent remains the company’s biggest long-term challenge, Langston said. He emphasized that financial performance, employee satisfaction, physician engagement and patient experience are closely linked.
“People are everything in this business,” he said.
With Langston’s transition to CEO, founder DJ Hill is moving into the chairman role at Compass. Meanwhile, co-founder Sean Rambo remains highly engaged in day-to-day operations.
“We stand with the winds at our back,” Langston said. “We couldn’t be more excited sitting here in early January, looking forward to the next 11 and a half months.”
