Ascension announced that it has “received approval” from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to move forward with its acquisition of AMSURG’s ASC business. “This regulatory milestone is a significant step toward our expected official closing in the near future,” stated the nonprofit health system, which anticipates adding more than 250 ASCs as a result of the deal.
“Over the past several years, we have been intentionally building a broader outpatient platform,” stated Ascension. “This transaction meaningfully strengthens and accelerates our ability to serve patients in more convenient, lower-cost sites of care while keeping our hospitals focused on complex and high-acuity needs.”
Under the terms of the FTC’s proposed consent order (view PDF), Ascension must divest seven of AMSURG’s ASCs to complete its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition. The FTC stated that the divestiture is necessary to protect American patients from higher outpatient surgery costs, the anticompetitive effects of the deal, and lower-quality care.
The divestitures would cover “each AMSURG facility in the relevant markets in which the proposed transaction would otherwise threaten competition: Nashville, Tenn., Panama City, Fla., Tulsa, Okla., Waco, Texas, and Wichita, Kan.,” according to the government agency. The FTC stated that the divestiture order particularly addresses potentially anticompetitive impacts regarding “certain outpatient surgical services performed by gastroenterologists, ophthalmologists and orthopedists” in those markets.
Six of the centers will be divested to ASC operator SCA Health. The seventh, in Panama City, will be divested to Florida Gastroenterology Center, a physician group that currently owns a minority stake in the ASC and will now assume full ownership.
The FTC’s proposed consent order also specifies that Ascension, AMSURG parent Ambulatory Topco and AMSURG “must provide transition assistance for up to one year, protect confidential information, maintain the viability of the divested assets until transfer and refrain from interfering with the employment relationships at the facilities. A monitor will be appointed to oversee compliance with all divestiture and transition obligations. For a period of 10 years, Ascension also will be required to give the Commission prior notice for any acquisition of ambulatory surgical centers in the metropolitan areas around the divested surgical centers.”
Healthcare Dive reports that the pending acquisition, which Ascension expected to close last year but has been “held up by regulatory review,” would bring Ascension’s total ASC count to “more than 300 centers in 35 states.” It reports that while the public has 30 days to comment on the FTC’s proposed order, “the compromise amounts to a preliminary approval of the deal by the FTC — a positive development for Ascension, which is acquiring AMSURG as part of its efforts to achieve a financial turnaround…Ascension has experienced ongoing operating losses in recent years, along with financial fallout from a massive cyberattack in 2024.”
