MemorialCare Medical Foundation Enters Ambulatory Surgery Arena

New Partnership Will Develop, Acquire and Manage Surgery Center Expanding on MemorialCare's Integrated Delivery System Services in Southern California

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Feb. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- MemorialCare Medical Foundation, the physician group division of MemorialCare Health System in Southern California, announced it has entered into a joint venture partnership with a prominent national surgical company to develop, acquire and manageambulatory surgery centers in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

The joint venture consists of the newly formed surgery center company, Beach Surgical Holdings, LLC, which is owned and operated by MemorialCare Medical Foundation and Surgical Care Affiliates and partners with local physicians to own and operate surgery centers. The joint venture will benefit the community by leveraging the strengths of all parties.

The first locations in the joint venture resulted from a merger of the MemorialCare Surgical Center at Saddleback and Saddleback Valley Outpatient Surgery Center, now respectively located adjacent to Saddleback Memorial in Laguna Hills and in the Towne Center medical building on El Toro Road in Laguna Woods. Beach Surgical Holdings, which now owns a 51% interest in the joint venture, will provide strategic and day-to-day management services for the centers. The remaining 49% interest is owned by more than 50 physician partners and Monarch HealthCare.

This initiative will deepen physician relationships, expand outpatient surgical offerings, create efficiencies by managing costs, further the continuum of care and strengthen MemorialCare Health System's position as a comprehensive, integrated delivery system that offers access to more than 200 care locations in the Southland, including six top hospitals.

"Forty years ago nearly all surgeries were performed in hospitals," says Barry Arbuckle, Ph.D., President & CEO of MemorialCare Health System. "Many are now performed on a same-day basis in ambulatory surgery centers. This frees up surgical time in hospitals for those procedures that require hospitalization while saving U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by moving more surgeries into convenient, high quality, outpatient settings."

"The expansion of ambulatory surgery centers provides more convenient options for our growing patient base in Orange and Los Angeles counties. It allows us to expand our reach in regions like South Orange County as well as future opportunities in Orange and Los Angeles counties," says Mark Schafer, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of MemorialCare Medical Foundation, which includes more than 2,000 physicians who are part of its MemorialCare Medical Group, its Independent Practice Association—Greater Newport Physicians, as well as affiliated physicians.

"We are excited to expand our historical Saddleback Valley Outpatient Surgery Center relationship with Monarch surgeons though this new collaboration with MemorialCare Medical Foundation," says Bart Asner, M.D., CEO of Monarch HealthCare. "We look forward to broadening our outpatient surgery capabilities to achieve better care, lower cost and a superior experience for patients in our community."

"This endeavor—a real partnership between MemorialCare and community surgeons—ultimately benefits all the patients we serve," says Ken Deck, M.D., Associate Medical Director of Monarch Health Care and Physician Leadership Board member of Surgical Care Affiliates. "There is no question that patients have great experiences in outpatient settings, which follows the goal in health care to provide the highest quality care at a lower cost. Actions like these help ensure a strong and positive future for health care."

"This is a great opportunity for two significant health care providers to come together and provide state-of-the-art surgical services," said Andrew Hayek, President and CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates. "We are proud to be partnering with MemorialCare."

Follow MemorialCare on Twitter: @MemorialCareHS.

MemorialCare Health System, a not-for-profit integrated delivery system with more than 11,000 employees and 2,300 physicians, includes six top hospitals—Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach, Community Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente; medical groups—MemorialCare Medical Group, Memorial Prompt Care; an Independent Practice Association (IPA)—Greater Newport Physicians; MemorialCare HealthExpress retail clinics; ambulatory surgery centers and numerous outpatient health facilities throughout the Southland. An innovator in health care delivery, MemorialCare focuses on evidence-based, best practice medicine where physicians and health professionals study best clinical practices and implement them at MemorialCare's sites with outcomes frequently exceeding state and national averages. For more information, visit memorialcare.org.

Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA) partners with physicians, hospitals and health systems to develop and implement surgical services strategies across the county. SCA operates 150 surgical facilities, including ambulatory surgery centers, surgical hospitals and hospital surgery departments in partnership with approximately 2,000 physicians and in affiliation with 30 not-for-profit health systems across the country. SCA's clinical systems, service line growth strategies, benchmarking processes and efficiency programs create measurable advantages for surgical facilities—clinically, operationally and financially. For more information, visit scasurgery.com.

SOURCE MemorialCare Health System