Surgery Partners added nine ASCs over the trailing 12 months ending in the first quarter of 2026, opening one new facility during the quarter, executives said in a May 5 first-quarter earnings call transcribed by Motley Fool.
Five more ASCs are expected to open later this year, with seven additional centers in the development pipeline behind them.
The buildout is a bet on de novo development as one of the company’s highest-return uses of capital, albeit one that requires patience. New ASCs typically take 12 to 18 months to syndicate physician partnerships and another 12 to 18 months to construct, followed by roughly a year to reach a cash flow breakeven point. Executives said during the call that the company is approaching the point where earlier cohorts are maturing into meaningful run-rate financial contributions.
Nearly all the new facilities are heavily weighted toward musculoskeletal procedures, reflecting Surgery Partners’ broader strategic push into higher-acuity cases. The company also recruits with expansion in mind, adding approximately 140 physicians in the first quarter of 2026, concentrated in orthopedics, ophthalmology and GI.
This year’s recruited physicians are generating a higher net revenue per physician than last year’s, executives said.
“Those 140 doctors are [generating] a higher net revenue in total than last year’s recruiting class,” Surgery Partners CEO J. Eric Evans said on the call. “And we’ve got a very targeted list we’re going after. The good news is with technology and with the inpatient only list coming off, that eligible list of proceduralists who can bring all their cases continues to grow.”
Those additions contributed to same-facility revenue growth of 4.4% in the first quarter, which executives described as in line with internal expectations and its long-term growth algorithm.
Same-facility case volume grew a more modest 0.6%, held back by weather-related disruptions in January and February that primarily affected high-volume, lower-acuity specialties like GI and ophthalmology rather than the higher-acuity MSK portfolio.
On the acquisition front, Surgery Partners deployed just $4 million in the first quarter against an annual target of approximately $200 million. The company spent approximately $180 million on acquisitions in 2025, with activity heavily concentrated in the back half of the year — a pattern management suggested may repeat in 2026.
“The timing of M&A is fickle,” Mr. Evans said. “We feel good about our pipeline. We continue to see new things coming in. And certainly, it’s a very fragmented industry. … We’re off to a little bit of a modest start this year, but we do feel good about the pipeline. It’s always a little bit fickle.”
The company reiterated full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $3.35 billion to $3.45 billion and adjusted EBITDA of at least $530 million, with earnings weighted toward the second half of the year as cost initiatives mature and the effect of a planned surgical hospital exit begins to contribute.
“We remain confident in our full-year outlook and more broadly, our ability to return to consistent and sustainable growth,” Surgery Partners CFO David Doherty said on the call.
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