Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/948573
44 OUTPATIENT SURGERY Medical Facilities Corp., NueHealth Form Joint Venture, Acquire 7 ASCs From Meridian Surgical Partners — 6 Things to Know By Shayna Korol T oronto-based Medical Facilities Cor- poration formed a joint venture with Leawood, Kan.-based NueHealth and acquired seven ASCs from Meridian Surgical Partners, based in Brentwood, Tenn. Here are six things you should know: 1. e joint venture is called MFC Nueter- ra Holding Company and will be majority owned by Medical Facilities Corp. 2. e new entity purchased seven ASCs from Meridian Surgical Partners for $46.5 million; Medical Facilities Corp. paid their portion of the total purchase price through a draw on its credit facility and cash. 3. e joint venture will acquire ownership interests in the following ASCs: • Brookside Surgery Center (Battle Creek, Mich.) • Central Arkansas Surgical Center (Rus- sellville, Ark.) • City Place Surgery Center (Creve Coeur, Mo.) • Eastwind Surgical (Westerville, Ohio) • Miracle Hills Surgery Center (Omaha, Neb.) • Riverview Ambulatory Surgical Center (Kingston, Pa.) • Two Rivers Surgery Center (Eugene, Ore.) For the 12 months ended on Sept. 30, 2017, net revenue for the acquired centers hit $35.6 million and EBITDA margins were in the mid-20s. e centers are expected to be ac- cretive to the company's current operations. "ese initial seven surgical centers have established presence in their communities, skilled physicians and an attractive payer mix," said Robert Horrar, president and CEO of Medical Facilities Corp. "rough the joint venture we have the ability to acquire addi- tional ambulatory surgery centers and build synergies throughout the network." 4. Post-acquisition, MFC Nueterra will own 53 percent equity interest in the centers, with NueHealth providing day-to-day manage- ment and operations, such as accounting, materials management, payer contracting, benefits administration and billing and col- lections. 5. e combined centers sold have 26 op- erating and procedure rooms and provide orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery and pain management services. 6. Capital Advisors served as financial advisor to Meridian during the transaction. n CMS Cancels Hip Fracture, Cardiac Bundles and Finalizes CJR Model: 5 Things to Know By Laura Dyrda C MS canceled the mandato- ry hip fracture and cardiac bundled payments scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, and made changes to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model with the goal of offering more flexibility. "While CMS continues to believe that bundled payment models of- fer opportunities to improve quality and care coordination while low- ering spending, we believe that fo- cusing on developing different bun- dled payment models and engaging more providers is the best way to drive health system change while minimizing burden and maintaining access to care," said CMS Adminis- trator Seema Verma. "We anticipate announcing new voluntary payment bundles soon." Here are five things to know: 1. CMS reduced the number of geo- graphic areas participating in CJR on a mandatory basis from 67 to 34. 2. As of Feb. 1, CJR is not be manda- tory for low-volume hospitals — those with fewer than 20 CJR episodes in to- tal over the past three years — or rural hospitals in the covered geographies. However, rural hospitals can choose to participate if they comply with CJR regulations. 3. The final rule includes an interim final rule with a comment period to seek feedback on the final policy and provide additional flexibility in ep- isode of care costs for providers in areas that were impacted by "extreme and uncontrollable circumstances," in- cluding the hurricanes that occurred earlier this year. 4. In the future, CMS expects to roll out additional opportunities for pro- viders to participate in voluntary ini- tiatives instead of mandatory bundled payment models. 5. The agency decided to cancel pro- posed bundles for hip fractures and cardiac care, and will instead focus ef- forts on designing and testing models to improve care coordination across the inpatient and post-acute care spectrum. n