Becker's ASC Review

26 JOINT VENTURES 7 most interesting ASC industry deals of 2020 By Laura Dyrda T he pandemic quieted ASC deals midyear, but there have been several fascinating transactions in the second half of 2020. Here are seven of the most interesting deals in the ASC space this year. 1. Nashville, Tenn.-based Covenant Surgical Partners shied its strategy from being an ASC-focused com- pany to becoming a physician services company and rebranded to Covenant Physician Partners in January. e organization also completed a partnership with Corpus Christi-based Texas Eye Care Network. 2. Memphis, Tenn.-based Gastro One partnered with private equity firm Webster Equity Partners in April to create the seventh PE-backed platform in gastroenter- ology, One GI. 3. In September, Surgery Partners sold its anesthesia business to Anesthesia Consulting & Management, known as NorthStar Anesthesia. e anesthesia business provides services to 25 locations in the Southeastern region of the country. Surgery Partners turned its focus to the company's short-stay surgical business aer the sale. 4. Medical Facilities Corp., based in Toronto, sold its interest in Two Rivers Surgical Center in Eugene, Ore., to two of the managing physician partners in October. e company then refocused capital and resources to- ward its current strategic initiatives and other growth opportunities in the ASC space, including de novo centers. 5. ValueHealth partnered with Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State Health to develop an outpatient surgical network. The deal was announced on Dec. 1 and will initially focus on orthopedics centers. Value- Health inked a similar deal with Cleveland-based University Hospitals earlier this year. 6. Rochester Hills, Mich.-based Center for Digestive Health partnered with H.I.G. Growth Partners to form a new investment platform, Pinnacle GI Partners. e deal was announced Dec. 1. 7. Tenet Healthcare in Dallas signed a deal to acquire 45 ASCs from Nashville, Tenn.-based SurgCenter Development for $1.1 billion. e deal was announced on Dec. 10 and will boost the portfolio of United Sur- gical Partners International, Tenet's ASC subsidiary, to 355 centers. n Medical director resigns over California group's new direction By Angie Stewart A lan Sockolov, MD, resigned as primary care medical direc- tor of San Ramon, Calif.-based Hill Physicians over manage- ment changes that he felt undercut physicians, he told the Sacramento Business Journal in a Dec. 16 article. Dr. Sockolov handed in his resignation in November after 20 years as primary care medical director. He was also vice president of the medical group's all-physician executive committee. Dr. Sockolov told the Business Journal that Hill Physicians has prioritized growing its administration and its affiliated management services organization over the past five years, resulting in less pay- ment to physicians. In a separate interview, Hill Physicians CEO David Joyner told the Business Journal that growth in the group's administration and of PriMed Management (which handles EHR and population health data functions for Hill Physicians) "hasn't been at the expense of physician reimbursement." In 2019, Hill Physicians spent $407 million on physician and "other contracted" services, a year-over-year increase of 5.3 percent. The group reported $138.4 million in administrative expenses such as salaries, software maintenance, rent and purchased services, up 6.4 percent from 2018. In the past decade, the medical group has added an EHR and launched a new PPO model, according to Mr. Joyner. "Hill has just changed over the last few years," Dr. Sockolov said. "Hill has always been a good group for doctors, but it seems like it's going to be more of a [health] plan-based or MSO-based orga- nization." n Vascular group opens ASC-office hybrid in Arizona — 3 details By Angie Stewart A hybrid ASC and medical office facility opened in Peoria, Ariz., according to a Dec. 14 LinkedIn post by Archsol, an architecture and planning firm involved in the develop- ment. Three quick points: 1. The 10,175-square-foot facility belongs to Peoria-based Total Vascular Care Centers, which specializes in peripheral artery dis- ease treatment. 2. Services provided at the new location include interventional radiology, cardiology and vascular surgery. 3. A grand opening ceremony for Total Vascular's new facility was held Sept. 22. n

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