Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, parent company of ASC chain United Surgical Partners International, announced it would acquire SurgCenter Development and its more than 90 ASCs for approximately $1.2 billion in November 2021.
While the company is still acquiring the ASCs, the process has slowed, according to a Feb. 9 call with investors.
"The most direct way to characterize the second [SurgCenter Development] transaction is that we are behind our expected ramp-up by approximately one year," Tenet CEO Saum Sutaria, MD, said during the call.
The transaction included many ASCs that were in early development stages, Dr. Sutaria said, adding that there were planned buy-ups and center openings that did not happen on the original timelines.
"The agenda to make progress has not stalled," he said. "Since [the third quarter] we have completed six more buy-ups at multiples unchanged from prior buy-ups."
The acquisition includes ownership interest in 92 ASCs and the formation of a five-year development agreement to provide continuity for SurgCenter Development's facilities and physician partners.
"We have worked with the physicians in these centers, and there is further opportunity for some of the centers to mature before completing the buy-ups and we can deliver our added synergies," Dr. Sutaria said in a third-quarter earnings call Oct. 20. "We will not force these unnaturally as the relationship with these physicians is foundational to our ongoing success."
With the deal, USPI planned to acquire equity interests in the ASCs from physician owners for approximately $250 million.
Meanwhile, USPI anticipated SurgCenter Development raising roughly $140 million in revenue in 2022.
"For 2023, we're essentially a year behind in terms of that," Dan Cancelmi, Tenet's CFO, added on the call.