Bryant Park Capital, a leading middle market investment bank, announced that Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGRY) (Surgery Partners) and ValueHealth, LLC (ValueHealth) announced a strategic partnership that brings Surgery Partners, a leading independent operator of short-stay surgical facilities, together with ValueHealth, a nationally recognized leader in value-based care. This partnership and the complementary strengths of each company will expand access to consumer-focused, high-value sites of care for patients and physicians. Bryant Park Capital acted as the lead financial advisor to ValueHealth in this transaction.

The partnership will includes a minority equity investment, acquisition of de novo facilities as well as existing ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs):

- Accelerate portfolio expansion through an exclusive partnership to develop future de novo ASCs, meeting the growing demand for cost-effective, consumer-focused surgical care.

- Deploy ValueHealth’s suite of comprehensive, value-based surgical programs across Surgery Partners’ current and in-development locations, benefiting patients, physicians, payors, and employers who are seeking solutions to reduce escalating surgical costs.

- Surgery Partners will assume management services and ValueHealth’s interest in three ASCs and four in-development, fully syndicated de novos, primarily supporting orthopedic specialties. Surgery Partners will continue to partner with ValueHealth on strategic assumption of management services and equity interest as part of the ongoing partnership.

Eric Evans, Surgery Partners CEO, said, “This partnership further strengthens our position as the partner of choice for independent physicians and progressive health systems by expanding our reach to new ASCs and introducing the proven value-based care services that ValueHealth has developed. Surgery Partners’ operating platform and leading same-store growth experience, combined with ValueHealth’s high-value specialty programming, creates a differentiated proposition. This allows us to continue to capitalize on the rapid migration of high-acuity surgical cases to the high-quality, short-stay surgical facilities we own and operate.”

“This partnership will be an accelerator to expand access to high-value surgical care, which is in heavy demand by employers and patients,” said Don Bisbee, president and CEO of ValueHealth. “Additionally, our specialty service line programs and employer engagement platform will add significant value for physicians who seek to maintain their independence, allowing them to benefit from the quality outcomes they create while generating savings for those who pay for the care.”

Surgery Partners’ musculoskeletal (MSK) procedure growth combined with ValueHealth’s MSK-focused programming creates a comprehensive suite of services to support a best-in-class patient and clinician experience. In addition to MSK services, this partnership will continue to build the capabilities necessary to capitalize on the migration of cardiology to outpatient settings. This partnership affords both companies with a differentiated offering that is unmatched in the industry.

About Surgery Partners 
Headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn., Surgery Partners is a leading healthcare services company with a differentiated outpatient delivery model focused on providing high-quality, cost-effective solutions for surgical and related ancillary care in support of both patients and physicians. Founded in 2004, Surgery Partners is one of the largest and fastest growing surgical services businesses in the country, with more than 180 locations in 31 states, including ambulatory surgery centers, surgical hospitals, multi-specialty physician practices and urgent-care facilities. For additional information, visit www.surgerypartners.com.

About ValueHealth
ValueHealth is pioneering the ambulatory surgical space. Today, the company is leading the country in healthcare's transformation to value-based care, with data-driven protocols that are rapidly positioning its innovative approach as the gold standard for the industry. This data-driven healthcare services company offers a surgical digital platform designed to accelerate the transition from fee-for-service to a value-based surgical care and consumer-centric model while positioning its provider partners to flourish in an emerging risk environment. Today, ValueHealth, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., operates in more than 30 states, and its nationally recognized Ambulatory Centers of Excellence ™ are leaders in the transition to value-based care. For more information, visit www.valuehealth.com