Allina Health system has created a partnership with Optum, the health services division of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, that could develop up to a dozen new ambulatory surgery centers over the next five years.
Minneapolis-based Allina did not release financial terms of the development agreement, which was finalized in December.
Plans call for Optum to begin managing in February Allina's surgery center at the West Health medical campus in Plymouth. Optum is one of the nation's largest operators of surgery centers, a business that grew significantly with the acquisition three years ago of a company called Surgical Care Affiliates.
"This partnership with SCA — Surgical Care Affiliates — represents for us an opportunity to bring care closer to our community," said Lisa Shannon, the chief operating officer of Allina, in an interview.
"We have earmarked eight to 12 of these centers over a time horizon that still needs to be defined," Shannon said. "Our goal is that the community begins to see this service becoming increasingly available in the next two years. Our plans look over three to five years."
Ambulatory surgical centers are licensed in Minnesota to provide surgical procedures that do not require overnight inpatient hospital care. The centers have grown as technology improvements, financial pressures and other factors have pushed more medical procedures outside of inpatient hospitals.
From 2009 to 2018, the number of licensed ambulatory surgery centers in the state increased from 56 to 81, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The department's Health Economics Program said total procedures per-year increased by about 50% during the time period, with 456,912 procedures in 2018.
Allina Health System operates 11 hospitals including Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis and United Hospital in St. Paul. It's one of the state's largest nonprofit groups, with more than 90 clinics and about 29,000 employees.
