50 ASC Management & Development Companies to Watch in 2014

Carrie Pallardy -

Here are 50 companies involved in the management and development of ambulatory surgery centers. Note: This list is not an endorsement of any company.

Please contact Carrie Pallardy at cpallardy@beckershealthcare.com with any questions.

Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies. Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies offers ambulatory surgery centers financial oversight, regulatory and accreditation oversight, IT, marketing billing, interim administrator and consulting services. The company was co-founded by Vito Quatela, MD, and John J. Goehle, MBA. Dr. Quatela currently serves as the CEO of Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies. He also developed and owns two ASCs in Rochester, N.Y.

Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America. Brent Lambert, MD, FACS; Tom Bombardier, MD, FACS; and George Violin, MD, FACS, founded Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America in 1997. Luke Lambert, MBA, CFA, CASC, joined the company as CFO and became CEO in 2002. The company's leadership also includes Robert Westergard, CPA, as the current CFO. ASCOA began with de novo surgery centers, but by the mid-2000s it took on the added role as a turnaround expert. The company currently operates 34 centers across the nation, and has a number of others in development.

AmSurg. AmSurg was founded in by David Manning and Rodney Lunn, who now serves as president and CEO of PhyBus. Christopher Holden has served as the company's CEO and director since October 2007. Amsurg has ambulatory surgery centers in 35 different states across the U.S. The company is in partnership with more than 1,800 physicians at 235-plus ASCs. The company focuses on managing and developing single specialty centers. AmSurg partners with facilities to promote case volume growth, physician recruitment, bottom line improvement, efficiency of daily operations and marketing and advocacy initiatives. The company reported $269.3 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2013, a 17 percent increase.

Arise Healthcare. Arise Healthcare owns and operates a variety of healthcare facilities, including ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals. The company offers ASC development services and operational management services. Arise Healthcare was co-founded by Jared Ledger and Robert Wills, MD. Mr. Ledger currently serves as the CEO and managing partner of the company. Dr. Wills serves as the company's chief medical officer.

ASD Management. Joseph Zasa and Robert Zasa founded ASD Management in 1986 and both currently serve as managing partners. Since its inception, the company has developed and managed more than 125 ambulatory surgery centers in 45 different states. The company is currently involved with 28 centers. In addition to development and management services, the company concentrates on turnarounds, consulting and benchmarking. ASD Management works with joint venture centers, multispecialty centers and specialized focus centers.

Avanza Heatlhcare Strategies. Avanza Healthcare Strategies, formerly ASC Strategies, was founded by Joan Dentler, who serves as the company's CEO and president. The company focuses on providing healthcare organizations with strategic guidance, with a focus on outpatient services and community collaborations. The company has experience in ambulatory surgery center joint ventures, hospital outpatient services and physician-owned surgical facilities. Avanza offers strategic planning, feasibility assessment, partnership development, program design, implementation, regulatory complilance, operations, evaluation and due diligence services.

Blue Chip Surgery Center Partners.  Blue Chip Surgery Center Partners concentrates on spine-focused surgery centers and multispecialty ASCs. The company works on acquisitions, turnarounds and hospital joint ventures. Blue Chip offers a full range of ASC management services including strategic planning and start-up services, organizational structure, financial models, functional expertise and ongoing management. The company currently manages 16 facilities across the county. Jeff Leland serves as the CEO of Blue Chip. The company's leadership also includes Jay Rom as president and Chris Bishop as the senior vice president of acquisitions and business development.

The C/N Group. Ravi Chopra founded The C/N Group in 1980. Mr. Chopra currently serves as the president and CEO of the company, which remains family-owned. The company owns, develops and manages ambulatory surgery centers, medical office buildings and diagnostic imaging centers. The C/N Group offers a wide range of management and development services. During the past decade, the company has completed projects totaling more than $75 million. The C/N Group has an annual revenue base of more than $20 million.

Community Care. Community Care, based in Nashville, Tenn., develops, operates and owns freestanding ASCs. The company offers de novo development services, focuses on acquisitions and provides comprehensive management services. The company is currently partnered with surgery centers in Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Florida and Indiana. E. Tony Reed serves as Community Care's CEO and director.

Constitution Surgery Centers. Theodore J. Krawiec, MD, and Kris Mineau co-founded Constitution Surgery Centers in 1997. Mr. Mineau currently serves as the president and CEO of the company. Since its inception, Constitution Surgery Centers has managed and developed surgery centers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, partnering with more than 200 physicians and three hospital systems. Collectively, the company's centers perform more than 75,000 cases each year. Constitution Surgery Centers offers development, financial, operational management and turnaround services. In August, the company began to seek approval for the expansion of its Constitution Surgery Center East in Waterford, Conn.

Covenant Surgical Partners. A group of healthcare executives founded Covenant Surgical Partners in 2008. The company focuses on partnering with physicians in owning and operating single or limited specialty surgery centers. Covenant offers surgery centers resources such as human resources, accounting, payroll, billing and contract negotiations. Rick Jacques currently serves as Covenant's president and CEO. Mr. Jacques has previously served as the president and director of Surgical Health Group and as vice president of business development at AmSurg. The company is currently partnered with nearly 20 surgery centers across the U.S. Covenant recently announced that it raised $2.3 million in an equity offering, according to an SEC filing.

Elite Surgical Affiliates. Lori Ramirez founded Elite Surgical Affiliates in 2008. Ms. Ramirez currently serves as the company's president and CEO. The company focuses on the management and development of orthopedic, spine and pain management surgery centers. The company has a number of operational centers in Houston and more in the development phase. Elite Surgical Affiliates offers development services ranging from partnership formation to construction oversight and accreditation to budgeting. The company also offers financial management, strategic planning, staffing services and more.

Eveia Health Consulting & Management. I. Naya Kehayes founded Millennium Health Consulting in 1998, which became Eveia Health Consulting & Management when the company expanded on a national basis. Ms. Kehayes currently serves as a managing principal and CEO. R. Matthew Kilton, MBA, MHA, is principal and COO. The company offers managed care and payer contracting, financial and operational consulting services. Eveia also performs contract evaluation and provides project coordination for ambulatory surgery center, group practice and health system joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions.

Facility Development & ManagementFacility Development & Management has helped open and manage more than 45 freestanding surgery centers since its founding in 1992. Edward P. Hetrick founded FDM and currently serves as its president. The company has developed a variety of centers including single specialty facilities and large physician-hospital joint venture centers. FDM continues to manage a number of the surgery centers it developed. The company provides development, management, consulting, planning and implementation and compliance services.  

Global Surgical Partners. Global Surgical Partners focuses on developing and managing hospital and physician-owned joint venture ambulatory surgery centers. J.A. Ziskind is the founder, president and CEO of the company. The company currently acquires minority interest in its centers and maintains an active management role. Global Surgical Partners offers legal oversight, development, management and financial services.

Graymark Healthcare. Graymark Healthcare is led by CEO Stanton Nelson. The company has primarily focused on sleep centers in the past, but in July it acquired the ASC management and development company Foundation Surgery Affiliates and Foundation Surgical Hospital Affiliates. With the acquisition, Graymark acquired FSA's non-controlling interests in 11 surgery centers in seven states. Thomas Michaud, the founder and chairman of Foundation Surgery Affiliates, has stepped into the role of chairman of the now merged company.

Healthcare Venture Professionals. Healthcare Venture Professionals was co-founded by Chuck Owen and John Smalley. Mr. Owen currently serves as the president of the company and Mr. Smalley serves as a special consultant. HVP works with both hospital and physician-owned ASCs, with a focus on joint venture facilities. Since its inception, the company has worked with more than 200 hospitals and health systems, thousands of physicians and successfully developed and upheld an ongoing management role in nearly 80 surgery centers. The company provides ASCs with feasibility analysis, development, management, project consulting and equity options.

Hospital Corporation of America. Hospital Corporation of America currently owns and operates nearly 114 ambulatory surgery centers, as well as 161 hospitals. The Nashville, Tenn.-based company was founded in 1968. HCA is the largest for-profit hospital company in the country. Richard Bracken serves as the company's CEO and chairman, but he will retire from the CEO position at the end of the year and remain as chairman through 2014. R. Milton Johnson, HCA's CFO and president, will assume the position of CEO. Gregary W. Beasley serves as president of the company's ambulatory surgery division. HCA recently issued preliminary financial and operating figures for its third quarter. The company reported approximately $8.5 billion in profit, a 5 percent increase from the same period last year.

Innovative Healthcare Management. Bill Simon founded Innovative Healthcare Management in 1995. Mr. Simon currently serves as the company's president and Adam Riffe serves as CFO. Innovative Healthcare Management focuses on the management and development of surgery centers and endoscopy centers in Southern California. The company offers facility development and design, physician recruitment, equipment planning and negotiation and facility leadership and management.

Interventional Management Services. Interventional Management Services was co-founded by Robin Fowler, MD, and Stephen Rosenbaum. Dr. Fowler currently serves as the company's chairman and medical director. Mr. Rosenbaum serves as the company's CEO. IMS offers surgery centers management, development, acquisition, equity restructuring, facility syndication and medical staff development services. The company currently has ASCs located in Georgia, Florida and New Mexico. IMS also has a number of clinic locations and new development projects.

Laser Spine Institute. Laser Spine Institute was first created by the collaboration of James St. Louis, DO, Glenn Hamburg, MD, and Michael Perry, MD. Laser Spine Institute first opened in 2005. Today, Laser Spine Institute includes five surgery centers. The facilities are located in Tampa, Fla., Scottsdale, Ariz., Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Houston. The Houston surgery center opened in 2013. Laser Spine Institute currently has 13 surgeons. Bill Horne serves as the company's CEO. Dotty Bollinger is the company's president and COO. Recently, Laser Spine Institute released findings on its economic value in the Tampa Bay area. The study revealed a $140 million impact on the local economy last year.

MMX Healthcare.  John Seitz and Tamar Glaser, RN, co-founded MMX Healthcare, which provides surgery centers with tools and resources to thrive in the current healthcare market. Mr. Seitz currently serves as the company's CEO and Ms. Glaser serves as president. The company offers the services AccredAbility and ManageMyASC. AccredAbility is designed as a comprehensive accreditation tracking and reporting tool. ManageMyASC is an interactive, real-time management tool, designed to provide surgery centers with tracking, benchmarking and analysis services.

Medical Consulting Group. Medical Consulting Group offers management and development solutions for single-specialty, multispecialty and hospital joint venture ambulatory surgery centers. The company focuses on developing surgery centers from day one, equity partnership and providing management services. Medical Consulting Group offers management services for the facility and its personnel, promotional management and billing services. Stephen Sheppard, CPA, COE, founded the ASC division of the company and currently serves as its managing principal. Medical Consulting Group has completed, managed and is currently involved with more than 40 surgery centers in states across the county. William B. Rabourn Jr., is the founder and managing partner of Medical Consulting Group.

Medical Facilities Corporation. Medical Facilities Corporation owns a 51 percent or greater share in five surgical hospitals and an ambulatory surgery center. The company's facilities are located in South Dakota, Oklahoma, California and Arkansas. Donald Schellpfeffer, MD, serves as the CEO of Medical Facilities Corporation. He is also a founder of Sioux Falls Specialty Hospital and serves as the facility's medical director. The company's management style concentrates on boosting efficiency and productivity of its facilities. MFC has announced its September 2013 dividend, a cash dividend payment of Cdn$0.09375 per Common Share payable on Oct. 15.


Meridian Surgical Partners. Meridian Surgical Partners specializes in the acquisition, development and management of multispecialty and spine-driven ambulatory surgery centers. Alongside physician partners, the company owns, develops and operates facilities across the country. The company was formed by three veterans of the healthcare industry, who have brought together a powerful combination of business acumen, physician relationships and clinical expertise. The name "Meridian" is defined as the "highest stage of development." The company's goal is to help physicians reach the highest level – the meridian – of an ASC partnership opportunity. Meridian is led by CEO John C. Wilson Jr., president and CDO Kenneth N. Hancock, executive vice president and COO Catherine Kowalski, RN, and executive vice president and CFO Jim Uden.

Merritt Healthcare. Merritt Healthcare was founded in 2001. The company focuses on providing ambulatory surgery center development, management and advisory services. The company currently operates nearly 10 centers in the eastern United States, with another three in development. In addition to comprehensive turn key development and ongoing management services, Merritt Healthcare offer brokerage, advisory and turnaround services. Matt Searles, MBA, and William Mulhall, RN, CASC, serve as partners of the company. Rich Searles is a senior associate and Kerri Ubaldi, RN, MBA, CPHRM, serves as vice president of operations. The company recently announced that its River Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center has been granted a sate license by the Connecticut Department of Health. The center is currently operational.

Murphy Healthcare. Robert Murphy founded the Montvale, N.J.- and New York-based ASC management and development company Murphy Healthcare. Mr. Murphy currently serves as the company's chairman. He has helped turnaround more than 30 ASCs. Douglas Dewey is the CEO of Murphy Healthcare. The company emphasizes management, development and turnaround services. Murphy Healthcare has nearly 10 surgery centers located in New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and Texas.

Northstar Healthcare. In 2003, Donald Kramer, MD, founded Palladium for Surgery Houston, the cornerstone of Northstar Healthcare. Dr. Kramer joined Northstar in 2007 as the company's first CEO. He is also a founding member of Foundation Surgical Affiliates. The company currently has three centers located in Texas. The company focuses on developing and managing specialty surgery centers in areas including spine, pain management, ENT, gastroenterology, orthopedics, general surgery and podiatry. Northstar offers its centers integrated marketing, financing, legal, strategic planning, benchmarking, licensing and accreditation and management and operations services.

Nueterra Healthcare. Nueterra Healthcare concentrates on global partnerships with health systems, governments, hospitals and physicians. Nueterra has projects including surgery centers located in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Nueterra partners with physicians, hospitals and surgery centers to offer services ranging from project initiation to operational management. David Ayers, who has long-ranging experience in developing successful partnerships with physicians and health systems, serves as the company's CEO.

Outpatient Healthcare Strategies. Outpatient Healthcare Strategies provides hospitals, physicians and ambulatory surgery centers with operational, financial, clinical and business strategy services. Jessica Nantz founded Outpatient Healthcare Strategies and currently serves as the company's president. The company offers ambulatory surgery centers operational assessment, oversight management, benchmarking services, financial support services, clinical services and business strategy services. Ms. Nantz focuses on providing her clients with the tools needed to improve operational efficiency.

Partners Medical Consulting. Partners Medical Consulting is led by CEO Kyle Goldammer. PMC offers clinical, development, finance and accounting, management, turnaround and revenue cycle management services for ambulatory surgery centers, clinics and hospitals. Mr. Goldammer and his team have expertise in turning around underperforming centers and developing successful centers from scratch.

PCI | HealthDev. PCI | HealthDev, formerly Physicians Capital Investments, was founded by Pedro Vergne-Marini, MD, in 2007 and remains owned and managed in part by physicians. The company provides solutions for medical facility financing, development, construction, ownership and asset/investment management. The company's name change was a part of strategy expansion initiative, which also includes a new logo and the tagline "Medical Real Estate Solutions."

Physicians Endoscopy. Physicians Endoscopy focuses on the development and management of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, with an emphasis on GI endoscopy. Barry Tanner, CPA, and Karen Sablyak co-authored the company's business plan. Mr. Tanner currently serves as the company's president and CEO. Ms. Sablyak serves as the company's CFO. Physicians Endoscopy is also led by COO Frank Principati and executive vice president of strategic partnerships John Poisson. The company's partnership models include new center partnership, hospital joint venture partnership and acquisition partnership. In addition to its partnership services, PE offers design and development, management and billing services. The company is affiliated with 29 centers across the U.S. Charlotte, N.C.-based Pamlico Capital recently made a significant investment in PE, which will help the company grow its centers and expand its product offerings to gastroenterologists.

Pinnacle III. Pinnacle III develops and manages ambulatory surgery centers. The company offers ASCs financial development, physician recruitment, building design and development, organization structure development and operational systems services. Pinnacle III also provides day-to-day operational management to maximize surgery centers' performance. In addition to these services, Pinnacle III serves ASCs through revenue cycle management, payer contracting and facility audits. Robert J. Carrera currently serves as the CEO and president of Pinnacle III.

Practice Partners in Healthcare. Larry Taylor founded Practice Partners in Healthcare in 2005. The privately held company began with a series of management contracts and has expanded to include ownership agreements. PPH now operates 14 surgery centers in several different states The company provides certificate of need procurement, start-up, business line development and syndications services, as well as coding, billing and collections services for surgery centers and physician practices.

Regent Surgical Health. Regent Surgical Health is a privately-held company headquartered in Westchester, Ill., specializing in creating ASC joint venture partnerships between physicians and hospitals. It is best known for its ASC partnership model, which aligns the interests of hospitals and physicians for long-term success. Regent Surgical Health currently manages and partners in 25 ASCs, the majority of which are joint ventures with hospitals. Thomas Mallon, CEO, and W. Michael Karnes, CFO, founded the company in 2001. Its management team also includes COO Nap Gary, who supervises the operations and physician relations of all the company's centers, and CDO Jeffery Simmons, who is in charge of all acquisition and development activity.

Sovereign Healthcare. Jeremy Hogue founded Sovereign Healthcare in 2003. He currently serves as the company's president and CEO. Sovereign currently has six ambulatory surgery centers, one of which is joint ventured with a health system. In addition to focusing on ASC development, acquisition, management and hospital joint ventures, Sovereign offers management services for physician practices.

Spine Centers of America. Spine Centers of America was founded by board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon Bryan Massoud, MD. Dr. Massoud is the head surgeon of Spine Center of America. The company currently operates three surgery centers focused on spine procedures located in New Jersey. Mark Ruoff, MD, and Ralph Wheeler, MD, also practice with Spine Center of America.

SurgCenter Development. SurgCenter Development was founded by Gregory George, MD, and Sean O'Neal, both of whom serve as two of the eight principals of the company. Stacy Berner, MD, serves as a principal and president of the company. SurgCenter Development partners with physicians to open and operate ambulatory surgery centers. The company does not charge development or management fees, but shares income with physicians through an ownership interest in the center. The company offers development services from the recruitment of initial investors and real estate acquisition to equipment acquisition and hiring core staff members. The typical SurgCenter Development facility is 5,000 to 9,000 square feet with one to three operating rooms. A surgery center project with the company generally takes about nine months to complete. SurgCenter Development has developed more than 130 surgery centers over the past two decades.

Surgem. Surgem owns, develops and managers surgery centers. John H. Haijar, MD, FACS, MBA, founded Surgem in 2005. Dr. Haijar currently serves as the company's CEO and chairman. Surgem serves facilities as an equity partner, corporate partner, development partner and managing partner. The company provides project oversight services, aids in selection and financing of equipment, provides pre-opening preparation services and handles management and operations. Surgem manages and has equity in 15 surgery centers and is in the process of developing three new locations.

Surgery Center Management. Surgery Center Management provides business management services to surgery centers and medical practices in California, with expansion underway across the country. Services include medical billing, human resources, legal services and collections. The company also does center advertising and marketing as well as revenue cycle management.

Surgery One. Surgery One manages four multispecialty ambulatory surgery centers in California. Scott Leggett serves as the CEO of Surgery One. The four centers offer minimally invasive hip and knee surgery, weight loss surgery, back and neck pain treatment, sports medicine, hernia surgery, upper extremity surgery and pain management.

Surgery Partners. Surgery Partners focuses on the management, development and acquisition of ambulatory surgery centers. The company has partnered with 50 single and multispecialty ASCs across the country. Michael Doyle serves as Surgery Partners' CEO. The company's leadership also includes Christy Heald as senior vice president of business development. The company offers management and development services including strategic planning, certification, operations and financial services. The company concentrates on growing the centers it partners with and works with physicians in the management, development and acquisition of ASCs.

Surgical Care Affiliates. Surgical Care Affiliates partners with physicians, health systems and payers to develop and implement surgery strategies across the country. SCA now operates more than 185 surgical facilities — including ambulatory surgery centers, surgical hospitals, and hospital surgery departments — in partnership with approximately 2,200 physicians and in affiliation with more than 45 not-for-profit health systems across the country. SCA's clinical systems, service line growth strategies, benchmarking processes and efficiency programs create measurable advantage for surgical facilities — clinically, operationally and financially. SCA was founded in 1982 by Joel Gordon, an industry pioneer. Since 2008, Andrew Hayek has served as President and CEO.

Surgical Management Professionals. Surgical Management Professionals partners with physicians and healthcare professionals to own, operate and manage surgery centers. The company first began with the establishment of the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Surgical Center. The center's leadership built a reputation as a partner in the development of surgery centers and surgical hospitals. SMP became a primarily physician-owned business entity in 2004. Now, the company offers start up consulting, ongoing operational and clinical services, revenue cycle services, accounting and physician practice billing services. SMP is currently in partnership with more than 20 facilities. The company is led by CEO Michael Lipomi.

Symbion Healthcare. Symbion Healthcare was formed in 1999 through the combination of Ambulatory Resource Centres, an ASC owner and operator, and UniPhy, an operator of multispecialty clinics and outpatient services. The company went public in 2004, but returned to being private in 2007 after merging with private equity firm Crestview Partners. Today, Symbion has more than 58 hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers in 25 different states. Richard E. Francis Jr., is the company's chairman of the board and CEO. Symbion's leadership also includes Clifford G. Adlerz as president and COO and Teresa F. Sparks as CFO.

Tenet Healthcare. Tenet Healthcare is a large, investor-owned healthcare delivery system, which sees an estimated 4 million outpatient visits each year. Tenet's outpatient services division is responsible for the development and management of ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic centers. Kyle Burtnett serves as senior vice president of the division. In one of the largest acquisition agreements of the year, Tenet acquired Vanguard Health systems for a total of $4.3 billion.

TRY Health Care Solutions. TRY Health Care Solutions, headquartered in Salmon, Idaho, was founded in 2005. The company was founded by Thomas R. Yerden, an experienced surgery center executive. Mr. Yerden founded Aspen Healthcare in 1992 and during his time leading the ASC firm he developed, opened and managed more than 75 surgery centers. Aspen Healthcare was sold to a leading surgery center corporation. TRY Health Care Solutions provides operational assessments, strategic planning and works with hospital-physician joint ventures and ASC mergers.

United Surgical Partners International. USPI was founded in 1998 by Don Steen, who currently serves as the company's chairman, and Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, the company's primary stockholder. Brett Brodnax serves as the company's president and chief development officer. USPI's leadership also includes Jason Cagle, senior vice president of general counsel and acquisitions, and James Mutrie, general counsel and compliance officer. The company went public in 2001, but became private once again in 2007. USPI develops and manages surgical facilities. The company is involved in de novo development, the conversion of hospital outpatient departments to freestanding ASCs and the acquisition of existing facilities. USPI offers a full range of management services including financial planning, partnership management, administration, legal support, accreditation support, supply chain management, benchmarking and more. USPI develops and manages more than 150 different facilities and has partnered with more than 2,800 of individual physicians in the ownership of surgical facilities. USPI has reported $155.2 million in net revenue for the second quarter of 2013, a 20 percent increase.

Visionary Enterprises. In 1982, Visionary Enterprises, Inc., referred to as VEI, was incorporated as a wholly-owned, for-profit subsidiary of Community Hospitals Foundation. In 1987, VEI began to primarily focus on managing and partnering with ambulatory surgery centers. In the area of consulting, VEI offers billing and coding services, revenue cycle management, financial services and credentialing services. Today, the company has nearly 20 different centers, located in Indiana and Michigan.   

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