After achieving a $2.6 billion financial turnaround in two years and restructuring its hospital portfolio, St. Louis-based Ascension is pushing even further, lining up a bold bet on ambulatory surgery centers and making outpatient and value-based care central to its future strategy.
The faith-based system is expected to finalize its acquisition of AmSurg — an ASC operator with more than 250 facilities across 34 states — by the end of 2025 or early 2026. The proposed deal is reportedly valued at about $3.9 billion.
“We truly think this AmSurg partnership will be transformational for our organization,” Amber Sims, executive vice president, chief strategy and growth officer at Ascension, said during a Nov. 3 panel at Becker’s CEO and CFO Roundtable in Chicago. “We really tightened our portfolio and recognized that we have to get ahead in the ambulatory business, because that’s where care is going. It’s where patients want to receive care, where payers want to seek care, and where providers want to provide care.”
Ascension recently underwent a significant restructuring, divesting several hospitals and exiting select markets, assets and services. The system has reduced its hospital portfolio from about 140 hospitals three years ago to 91 wholly owned or consolidated hospitals. It also holds noncontrolling interests in 29 additional facilities, according to its most recent financial report.
Now, Ascension’s focus is twofold: ensuring its acute care footprint delivers high-quality care while significantly investing in ambulatory services.
“We thought AmSurg was the best platform for us to scale — [we’re] both culturally aligned and equipped to expand across the U.S.,” Ms. Sims said. “It’s a platform play as we continue to make sure we’re focused on providing care in the right setting at the right time. We believe AmSurg provides us a foundational play to really accelerate the future of healthcare.”
Ascension views AmSurg as a strategic lever to meet growing demand for outpatient care. Patients increasingly prefer ambulatory settings, providers favor them for their efficiency and payers see clear cost advantages. As more health systems recognize how ASCs fit into the broader care continuum, Ascension is aligning internal incentives to match, including tying hospital CEO goals to the performance of the ASC platform, according to Ms. Sims.
“We’re acquiring and aligning with AmSurg because it has a great group of leaders who run a really great business,” she said. “We don’t want to fully integrate it into the overall Ascension chassis. We want to make sure we protect the integrity of that business while making sure that there are fundamentals aligned, such as legal and finance functions. We want to make sure that we keep the integrity of that organization, so that we can grow faster in the ASC space.”
