In its 2025 proposed payment rule for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) floated a 2.6% increase to surgery center payments and adjustments to select quality-reporting measures. One thing CMS didn’t call for: key additions to the ASC Covered Procedures list for 2025. “It is disheartening that CMS established a new, supposedly more transparent process for submitting procedure codes that could be added to the ASC Covered Procedures … [Read more...]

TPG Inc. (Nasdaq: TPG) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) have emerged as potential suitors for ambulatory surgery center (ASC) operating company Surgery Partners (Nasdaq: SGRY). UnitedHealth Group is the parent company of both UnitedHealthcare and Optum, its health care services arm. The health care giant is no stranger to the ASC space, with Optum taking over SCA Health for $2.3 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, TPG is a global alternative asset manager with $229 billion in assets under … [Read more...]

Montecito Medical has purchased an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) property in Indiana. Announced on Aug. 13, the transaction adds to the recent M&A activity surrounding ASC operators and facilities. Financial terms of Montecito Medical’s acquisition were not disclosed. “We are excited to add this high-quality ASC asset to our portfolio as we expand our footprint in the Greater Chicago MSA,” Rus Gudnyy, senior vice president of investments at Montecito Medical, said in a company … [Read more...]

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and other health care entities continue to face heightened levels of cyberattacks in 2024. Earlier this month, it was revealed that a Florida surgery center had a data breach affecting more than 48,000 patients. Around the same time, an Idaho-based ASC announced it also had a “data security incident.” These latest ASC cyberattacks came slightly over a month after the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Westchester had a data security incident of its … [Read more...]

MyMichigan Health at the start of August completed its acquisition of Ascension Michigan’s locations in Saginaw, Tawas and Standish. Officially announced on Aug. 1, the transaction includes Ascension St. Mary’s of Saginaw, Ascension St. Mary’s Towne Center, Ascension St. Joseph in Tawas and Ascension St. Mary’s of Standish, plus all related sites of care and related physician practices of Ascension Medical Group. The deal includes an ambulatory surgery center (ASC). “We’re honored to be … [Read more...]

The U.S. hospital sector is in serious distress. While many of the largest hospital systems in the nation are doing well financially, hundreds of facilities are in danger of shutting their doors, especially ones located in rural areas. One ripple effect of the hospital struggles could be increased dealmaking activity in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) space. If a hospital system is struggling financially, it could seek to offload some of its more valuable assets – such as an ASC – to … [Read more...]

Private equity dealmaking in health care services has been in a bit of a slump, at least compared to the record-breaking transaction activity that took place in 2021 and 2022. But there are signs that PE-led health care M&A may be turning around, with the potential for increased interest in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) space as well. “There have been deal processes starting for a while, but we're just starting to see some deals actually close,” Rebecca Springer, lead health care … [Read more...]

American Vision Partners is acquiring Eye Care Services from Evernorth Care Group. Phoenix-based American Vision Partners is a fast-growing eye care physician services organization that operates in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Nevada. It has more than 137 locations in its network, including several ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Just a handful of its ASCs include the Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, Southwestern Eye Center and West Valley Peaks, which American Vision Partners … [Read more...]

Surgery Partners (Nasdaq: SGRY) is rumored to be exploring strategic alternatives, including a potential sale. But that doesn’t mean it’s coming out of acquisition mode. According to a post from legal firm Husch Blackwell, Surgery Partners recently worked with the Orthopedic Institute of Wisconsin to acquire 14 Wisconsin-based practice groups and two ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). “Partners Tom Shorter and Jack Enea led the deal, which brings broad network access and value to patients … [Read more...]

Outpatient surgery volume across HCA Healthcare’s (NYSE: HCA) ambulatory network declined slightly in the second quarter of 2024. The number of individual surgery centers in the hospital system’s portfolio was down on a year-over-year basis as well. But from a revenue perspective, total growth for HCA Healthcare’s outpatient surgery business was solid last quarter. What’s more, the slight dip in outpatient surgeries was partly attributable to the unique circumstances around Medicaid … [Read more...]