From 19 surgery centers to 163
Surgery Partners owns 144 of the 7,325 Medicare-certified surgery centers in our data, 2.0% of the U.S. total. Bon Secours Mercy owns 19. Together they hold 163, 2.2%, which ranks fourth behind Tenet's USPI, UnitedHealth's Optum and Ascension's AmSurg, and just ahead of HCA Healthcare's 155.
Surgery Partners counts more sites than that, about 176 facilities including 19 surgical hospitals. The figures here count licensed ambulatory surgery centers only, the same way for every owner.
Almost no local overlap
Bon Secours Mercy runs 41 hospitals, most of them in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina. Surgery Partners' centers sit in 74 metro and rural labor markets, led by California, Florida, Texas and Georgia. The two share only one market: Cleveland, OH, where Bon Secours Mercy has hospitals and Surgery Partners has surgery centers.
The deal leaves local surgery center markets almost as they are. It gives a Catholic nonprofit health system a national outpatient surgery business, mostly in states where it has no hospitals.
Part of a pattern
Hospital owners are buying the largest surgery center chains. Ascension closed its $3.9 billion purchase of AmSurg in 2026. With this deal, four of the five largest U.S. surgery center owners also run hospitals: Tenet, Ascension, Bon Secours Mercy and HCA. UnitedHealth Group, through Optum, is the fifth.
How we measured it
Centers are open, Medicare-certified ambulatory surgery centers in CMS Provider of Services data, linked to owners through Medicare enrollment records and company location lists. A joint venture counts with each partner. Labor markets are Bureau of Labor Statistics metro and nonmetro areas. Our national surgery center report has the full ranking.
Questions
Who is buying Surgery Partners?
HealthSpan Partners, an affiliate of Bon Secours Mercy Health, agreed on October 26, 2026, to take Surgery Partners private at $23.50 a share, about $5.7 billion including debt. Bain Capital rolls its stake of about 39% into the new owner.
When will the Surgery Partners deal close?
The companies expect it to close in the first quarter of 2027, after shareholder and regulatory approval.
Who are the largest surgery center owners after the deal?
Tenet Healthcare (USPI), UnitedHealth Group (Optum), Ascension (AmSurg), Bon Secours Mercy Health with Surgery Partners (163 centers) and HCA Healthcare (155).