As ASC consolidation accelerates, many management companies are chasing scale through acquisitions. Solara Surgical Partners has taken a different route, one built on long-term relationships and physician alignment.
Southlake, Texas-based Solara is an ASC development and management company that has historically prioritized relationship-driven joint ventures over large-scale acquisition activity. Chief Development Officer Steve Hockert told Becker’s that the company’s growth has often stemmed from trust-based partnerships that naturally evolve into new opportunities, rather than from pursuing aggressive acquisition targets.
That model stands out as competition heats up across the ASC industry, with hospitals, health systems and private equity increasingly vying for surgery center market share.
In 2025, several major deals shifted the landscape. In June, Ascension announced an agreement to acquire AmSurg in a transaction reportedly valued at $3.9 billion and expected to close in early 2026, which would expand Ascension’s ASC footprint from 58 centers to more than 300 across 34 states. Meanwhile, SCA Health, an Optum subsidiary, acquired U.S. Digestive Health Management from a private equity owner in 2025.
Even amid consolidation, many independent ASCs are signaling that partnerships — not full sales — may be their preferred path forward. A VMG Health survey released Oct. 9 found that 59% of independent ASCs would consider a strategic partnership rather than a full transaction. Among those open to partnerships, 71% said they would consider partnering with a health system, while 31% would consider a management company and 29% a private equity group.
For Solara, that sentiment reflects what has shaped its growth from the beginning.
“Historically, what differentiates us is that we’ve been more opportunistic versus strategic, and that’s different from some of our peers,” Mr. Hockert said. “The relationship component of our values has been critical to how we’ve approached the business over the last 10 years. The relational catalyst is what has driven growth for us.”
Solara, he said, tends to focus on relationships it feels “confident in and comfortable with,” and those partnerships often lead to others.
“Those relationships often refer similar people with the same kind of vision for their ASC,” he said. “That’s very different from how many peers operate.”
Historically, Solara’s strategy has centered on independent physician alignment through joint ventures, with limited emphasis on acquisitions.
“Our existing relationship profile has centered on independent physician availability in the market,” Mr. Hockert said. “Historically, we’ve aligned by forming joint ventures with independent physicians and putting them together to meet ASC needs.”
But as physician practice dynamics shift nationally, relationship-based growth is also becoming more complex, particularly as fewer independent physicians remain in many markets. In 2024, 42.2% of physicians worked in private practice, down sharply from 60.1% in 2012, according to a report from the American Medical Association. Private practice now accounts for less than half of physicians in most specialties, with rates ranging from 30.7% in cardiology to 46.9% in radiology.
That trend has pushed many ASC operators to rethink how they build partnerships and where opportunities may come from. Over the last two to three years, Solara’s relationships have increasingly expanded toward health system affiliations, including in Arizona, Mississippi and Florida, which Mr. Hockert described as foundational.
Health system joint ventures now play a larger role in Solara’s growth, including its recently announced partnership with Orlando Health aimed at strengthening and expanding ASC development and operations.
“When we align with health systems, it’s to support their mission,” he said. “ASCs are increasingly a big pillar of that support, and we’re well positioned to help them deliver on that.”
Mr. Hockert said Solara’s ability to partner across multiple models, from independent physician ventures to sophisticated health system collaborations, has become an increasingly important differentiator as the market consolidates.
“What makes us unique is our ability to operate across the continuum — from cobbling together independent physician partnerships to working with health systems that have very high standards,” he said. “Being able to serve both ends of that spectrum is, I think, unique to us.”
Solara’s private ownership structure, he added, also allows the company to prioritize long-term partnerships and community needs rather than short-term deal cycles.
“From a growth standpoint, I feel like our company is positioned very well,” he said. “We’re privately held, and we genuinely care about servicing the health needs of the communities we’re in.”
