ASCs have become one of the hottest assets in healthcare dealmaking.
Private equity is deploying record sums, health systems are paying up for outpatient access points and the biggest ASC platforms are trading assets in both directions.
Here are 10 numbers that capture where ASC M&A stands right now.
1. $191 billion. Global healthcare private equity deal value hit a record $191 billion in 2025, according to Bain & Company’s “Global Healthcare Private Equity Report 2026,” released Jan. 8. Provider services, the category that includes ASCs and physician groups, drew $62 billion of that total, up 57% year over year.
2. 7.9x. The median total invested capital-to-EBITDA multiple paid for ASCs in 2025 climbed to 7.9x, the highest in eight years, according to VMG Health.
3. 33%. Private equity’s share of all publicly announced healthcare mergers and acquisitions reached 33% in the second quarter of 2026, up from 27% in the first quarter, per LevinPro HC’s Q2 2026 healthcare M&A data, released July 30. PE firms closed 151 deals in the quarter, and physician medical groups accounted for 39% of that PE activity.
4. $3.9 billion. That’s the price Ascension Health Alliance paid to acquire Amsurg, adding more than 250 ASCs across 34 states to the nonprofit system’s ASC footprint. The deal closed in 2026 only after the Federal Trade Commission, in a June 2 order, required Ascension to divest seven surgery centers in Nashville, Panama City, Tulsa, Waco and Wichita to resolve antitrust concerns.
5. 538. The number of ASCs United Surgical Partners International, Tenet Healthcare’s ambulatory division, held interests in as of June 30 — 405 of them consolidated — across 37 states, per Tenet’s second-quarter 2026 earnings release. That’s down slightly from 541 (407 consolidated) at the end of the first quarter, even as USPI’s ambulatory revenue grew 9.3% year over year to $1.4 billion.
6. $795 million. The gross proceeds Surgery Partners is set to collect for selling its ownership interests in two Idaho Falls hospital-based facilities to Intermountain Health, a deal announced July 24 at roughly 7x trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA (about 17x the company’s average distributions from the asset over the prior three years). The transaction values the underlying facilities at $1.15 billion and is expected to cut Surgery Partners’ leverage by about 0.3 turns.
7. $200 million. Surgery Partners’ standing annual target for M&A capital deployment — a target the company told investors on its Aug. 17 second-quarter earnings call it will not hit in 2026, after an “immaterial amount” of acquisitions through midyear. Management said it still expects to close additional deals before year-end but flagged tighter discipline on price and strategic fit.
8. 2. Of the 30 acquisitions health systems completed in the second quarter of 2026, just two targeted outpatient surgery centers, compared with 13 hospital deals, according to LevinPro HC. Health systems are still buying, but ASCs remain a small slice of their activity relative to private equity and the large multistate platforms.
9. 65%. The share of U.S. ASCs that remain independently, physician-owned freestanding facilities, per VMG Health’s 2026 report, out of 6,468 Medicare-certified ASCs nationally, a base that has grown at a 1.75% compound annual rate since 2011.
10. 2.6%. The Medicare payment rate increase CMS finalized for ASCs for calendar year 2026, effective Jan. 1, alongside 289 additional procedures added to the ASC Covered Procedures List.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.
