Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit and Catholic health system, has signed an agreement with Regent Surgical Health, a developer, owner and manager of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), as its exclusive national partner for ambulatory surgery centers. Through this partnership, Ascension and Regent will develop or acquire and operate ambulatory surgery centers across the communities Ascension serves, providing patients with convenient access to high-quality outpatient surgical services.
Regent also has completed a strategic investment from Ascension Capital, an investment affiliate of Ascension, providing additional capital for future growth.
“This partnership is all about creating easier and more convenient access to our healthcare facilities for those we’re privileged to serve,” said Craig Cordola, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Ascension. “Regent will contribute its expertise to develop and manage our new centers and help to ensure we offer a consistently exceptional experience to our patients and physicians.”
Ambulatory surgery centers play a critical role in the delivery of high quality, cost-effective care, and are gaining increasing importance in value-based care and risk-sharing payment models. Ascension and Regent will develop and deliver a transformative ambulatory surgery experience that improves both quality and access to care. In operating the centers, the Regent model leverages its best practices across all key functions, including staff recruitment and retention, training, physician recruitment, surgeon and patient satisfaction, clinical oversight and payer contracting.
Regent, headquartered in Chicago and Nashville, Tennessee, has developed, owned and managed ASC facilities in partnership with hospitals and physicians since 2001, and has grown to become the nation’s largest independent health system joint venture-focused ASC operator. Regent currently owns or operates ASCs across the United States and has successfully pursued a strategy focused on the development of several multisite health system partnerships.
Regent will use the capital investment from Ascension Capital to further grow its management team as well as enhance its operational and technology capabilities to support both existing and new health system and physician partners. In addition, Ascension Capital has committed significant incremental growth capital to support Regent’s role in assisting its health system partners in modernizing their surgical systems through both ASC acquisitions and new developments.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with Ascension, who brings a depth of investment expertise, system relationships and clinical excellence, to build on our existing capabilities and to launch our next phase of growth,” said Chris Bishop, Chief Executive Officer of Regent Surgical Health. “As technology-driven innovations have facilitated a migration of many routine surgical procedures into outpatient and ambulatory settings, our vision is to become the ASC management partner of choice to the nation’s leading health systems, enabling them to provide seamless and superior care to the patients they serve.”
