Dive Brief:
- Nashville-based Symbion, which owns and operates a chain of ambulatory surgery centers, has been acquired by Surgery Center Holdings, Inc. in a deal worth $792 million.
- Surgery Center Holdings, which operates under the name Surgery Partners, currently has 44 surgery centers and six surgery hospitals nationally; the acquisition will swell the company's holdings to about 100 centers across 27 states.
- The combined company will offer healthcare services from 2,400 physicians to over 500,000 patients annually.
Dive Insight:
The Symbion acquisition is the second big ambulatory surgery deal in the last two weeks — AmSurg, which partners with physician groups to operate 242 ambulatory surgery centers across the country, announced the purchase of physician outsource provider Sheridan Healthcare for $2.35 billion in late May. Both deals highlight an ongoing trend towards higher-value M&A deals in 2014, as well as an increasing emphasis on the provision of care in a non-hospital setting: the businesses operate a variety of ancillary outpatient care facilities, providing things like anesthesia, lab testing, pharmacy and urgent care.