Over the last 12 months, several major health systems have begun doubling down on ambulatory care as it has continued to grow in popularity and demonstrate lower costs compared to inpatient hospitals.
“Nowadays, patients don’t want to go to the hospital. Hospitals are for sick people. Coming to a clean and efficient ASC is what patients want,” Duke Hasson, MD, a total joint replacement specialist, who recently joined Newport Beach, Calif.-based DISC Sports and Spine Center, told Becker’s. “They don’t want to sit there and be in a hospital for extended periods of time. They want in and out. People always do better sleeping in their own bed, being in their own house, being around familiar settings.”
For several physician specialties, it is much more affordable to perform procedures in the ASC setting. ASCs reduced Medicare costs by $28.7 billion from 2011 through 2018, and are projected to cut them by $73.4 billion from 2019 to 2028.
Here are five major health systems doubling down on ASC growth:
Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health added eight ambulatory care sites across six states in the first quarter of 2025. In fiscal year 2024, the system added 56 ambulatory sites. “We continue to work toward the reconfiguration of our care footprint, focusing heavily on ambulatory development, as well as investments in our markets where we are experiencing rapid growth,” CFO Dan Morissette said on an investor call.
Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health is working on growing outpatient care. President and CEO Mike Slubowski told Becker’s that the system is working to expand urgent care, medical groups, freestanding ambulatory services and the PACE program. “You have to view where healthcare is going outside of an acute care lens,” Mr. Slubowski said. “Those structures can get in the way of strategy. If you’re structured around the hospital being the center of the universe, it’s hard to get people, processes, technology and culture pointed in a new direction.”
Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and its subsidiary United Surgical Partners International will continue driving outpatient care. Tenet plans to invest $250 million annually in ambulatory mergers and acquisitions, reinforcing its position as the largest ASC operator in the U.S.
In 2024, it sold 14 hospitals across California, South Carolina and Alabama for more than $4.8 billion. In 2024, the company added at least 57 new ASCs, with another 10 to 12 standalone centers planned for 2025.
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare is looking to outpatient and ASC strategy to drive growth. HCA finished 2023 with 124 ASCs and 24 endoscopy centers, which saw 1,044,415 total surgery cases — a 2.1% increase year over year. Outpatient procedures accounted for 38.3% of patient revenues. The health system has an average of 13 outpatient facilities for each hospital. By 2030, he expects that average to grow to between 17 and 20.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health started 2025 by buying 18 urgent care clinics across New Mexico and Oklahoma from NextCare Urgent Care, according to a March press release. The system plans to continue eyeing outpatient and ambulatory care sites.
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