Becker's ASC Review

18 TRANSACTIONS Where independent ASCs stand today By Riz Hatton Consolidation can feel like a looming threat to the ASC industry, but the majority of surgery centers remain independent. ese statistics come from a Jan. 26 report from VMG Health. Here's a snapshot of where ASC independence stands today: 1. About 70 percent of ASCs are independent as of 2022. 2. e number of surgery centers under partnership by a national operator increased from 1,752 in 2021 to 1,804 in 2022, according to the same report. 3. ASC giants United Surgical Partners International, AmSurg, SCA Health, HCA Healthcare and Surgery Partners saw an increase of about 511 centers since 2011. 4. ese five ASC chains account for around 22 percent of the market. 5. About 9 percent of ASCs were owned by other operators. n Why physicians are selling to hospitals By Patsy Newitt T he percentage of physicians who work in private practice has decreased from 60.1 percent in 2012 to 46.7 percent in 2022, according to recently released analysis of 10 years of data on physician practice arrangements conducted by the American Medical Association. Here are three major reasons physicians are selling their practices, according to the survey: 1. 1. e most cited reason for sale was payment. Nearly 80 percent of surveyed physicians said the need to negotiate higher payment rates with payers was a key reason why their practice was sold or acquired. 2. 2. Managing payers' regulatory and administrative requirements was the second-most cited reason. 3. 3. e third-most cited reason was improving access to costly resources. n Optum's powerful physician workforce: 5 stats to know By Patsy Newitt Optum is the largest employer of physicians in the country, with 70,000 employed or aligned. Here are five more statistics to know 1. Optum oversees more than 2,200 locations as of 2023. 2. Optum has locations across 25 states, including the five most populous — California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania. 3. Optum Health has served 101 million unique consumers. 4. Optum Health posted a year-end revenue of $71.2 billion in 2022, five times greater than its year-end revenue in 2015. 5. Over 20 million people across the United States receive care through Optum Care. n Physician-owned hospital files for bankruptcy protection By Patsy Newitt A West Lake Hills, Texas-based physician-owned hospital, The Hospital at Westlake, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing is an effort to manage debt that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic but has since been exacerbated, the hospital said in a Sept. 8 news release. The hospital will continue operations during the bankruptcy proceedings. The hospital has been burdened by inflation, rising costs of labor, supplies and drugs and labor shortages. "At the heart of our hospital's restructuring is our unwavering commitment to upholding the highest standards of excellence in patient care," Mark Shen, MD, the hospital's CEO, said in the release. "Like many of our industry peers, we've battled immense challenges since the onset of the pandemic, which have only magnified the struggles businesses across every industry grapple with, including our own. Facing the stark reality of our financial standing and the unrelenting pressures impacting our industry, we're taking every measure possible to secure the future of our hospital." n

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