St. Louis-based Ascension is boosting its outpatient strategy, a pivot after years of acute care divestitures and operational realignment.
Here are five things to know:
1. Ascension is in advanced talks to acquire Nashville, Tenn.-based AmSurg, one of the largest ASC operators in the U.S., for about $3.9 billion. AmSurg runs more than 250 centers across 34 states, which would instantly give Ascension a major footprint in outpatient surgery.
2. With nearly 2,000 physicians and the second-highest ASC volume in the country (behind Tenet’s United Surgical Partners International), AmSurg would provide Ascension with an extensive network of facilities and clinicians to build from.
3. Alongside the potential AmSurg acquisition, Ascension is expanding its imaging centers, outpatient physical therapy sites and Ascension Rx, its pharmacy platform, which is adding specialty drug services and a national mail-order distribution hub.
4. In the past two years, Ascension has sold or consolidated about 35 hospitals, part of a financial turnaround and portfolio reshaping effort. With a leaner acute footprint, the system now appears to be entering a new growth phase, one anchored in outpatient care.
5. Ascension reported a fiscal 2025 operating loss of $490.9 million (a -1.6% operating margin), a significant improvement from its $1.8 billion loss (-6.3% margin) the prior year.
