Becker's ASC Review

31 JOINT VENTURES An ASC costing $31M brought together 3 competing entities — 5 things to know By Angie Stewart M ore than 2,000 operations were performed at the Surgery Center at Shrewsbury (Mass.) since it opened in May 2018, according to Worcester Business Journal. Five things to know: 1. UMass Memorial Health Care and Reliant Medical Group, both based in Worcester, Mass., partnered with Quincy, Mass.-based Shields Health Care Group to establish the $31 million center. "It's three great organizations that recognized a need for high quality but at a lower cost, outside the hospital setting," Prashanth Bala, Shields' director of ASCs, told WBJ. 2. It was the first ASC established in Mas- sachusetts aer the state lied a moratorium on new ASC construction in 2017, as Becker's previously reported. e moratorium had been in place since 1971. 3. e competing organizations said they partnered because reimbursement for out- patient procedures makes ASC ownership worthwhile — plus, the center is designed to satisfy the Quadruple Aim, according to Leon Josephs, MD, chief of specialties at Reliant. 4. Shields manages the facility, which has a staff of 20-plus surgeons from UMass Memo- rial and Reliant. 5. Reliant Medical Group and Shields Health Care Group have since partnered to develop an additional ASC in Natick, Mass. e multispecialty ASC is expected to open in 2020, with the project costing an estimated $10 million. n Physician practice market becoming a sellers' market — 3 insights from Edgemont's Jeff Swearingen By Eric Oliver E dgemont Partners' founding partner, Jeff Swearingen, elaborated on the current state of merger and acquisition activity in the physician practice market. Here's what he said: 1. "It's becoming a seller's market. Valuations are strong and there's still a lot of demand for good practices, especially in gastroenterology, vision care, women's health and fertility and orthopedics," Mr. Swearingen said. 2. Uncertain reimbursement practices, burden- some administrative duties, the capital demands related to technological investment, and physi- cians' desire to return to practicing medicine are driving consolidation. 3. Mr. Swearingen said that while private equity investors, hospitals and other consolidating forces remain active in the marketplace, the election pres- ents an unknown element. He said: "It's hard to say how healthcare services will play out in the election. In our view, if you want to sell, you should consider starting the process soon, with the goal of closing by the middle of next year. Right now, it's a good time to be selling." n The ASCs that have closed in 2019 By Rachel Popa Becker's ASC Review covered the closing of 16 ASCs this year. They include: Joint venture Methodist North Surgery Center closed in January Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare's Methodist North Surgery Center closed in January. The health system and surgery cen- ter are both in Memphis, Tenn. Laser Spine Institute shuts its doors, closed 3 ASCs Laser Spine Institute closed three surgical centers and re- duced its operating cost structure in the six months before its closure in March. Ohio ASC closed, reopened as joint venture Sandusky, Ohio-based Firelands Regional Medical Center closed its ASC and will reopen in the fall in collaboration with NOMS Healthcare and Fisher-Titus Medical Center in Norwalk, Ohio. Physician buys 2 Illinois ASCs' assets for $50K after one halts operations An Illinois partnership shut down Belleville (Ill.) Surgical Cen- ter and sold Physicians' Surgical Center to Shakeel Ahmed, MD, after both Belleville-based facilities lost surgeons to local hospital groups. Surgical company seeks $15M investments for 10 closed surgery centers Worldwide Surgical Solutions, a company that designs and builds surgical facilities, is seeking investors for 10 surgery centers in Texas that have closed down. n

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