News
Partnership Advances Turnkey Outpatient Anesthesia Specialist’s Ability to Provide
Safe and High-Quality Office-Based Ambulatory Care, Marks VSS’s 13th Investment in Healthcare
NEW YORK – April 26, 2021 – VSS Capital Partners (“VSS”), a private investment firm investing in the healthcare, business services, education and information industries, today announced that it has completed a growth capital investment in Ambulatory Management Solutions (“AMS” or “the Company”), a turnkey provider of outpatient anesthesia, surgical and administrative services that enable physicians to provide safe in-office and ambulatory surgery center-based procedures.
Headquartered in Chicago, AMS provides custom office and surgery center management support services along with anesthesia care through its affiliated managed physician practice. With over 100 clinical and non-clinical personnel, the organization serves over 60 blue chip customers in Northeastern Illinois, including with leading health systems, independent physician groups and ambulatory surgical centers across various specialties including gastroenterology, ears, nose and throat diagnoses, obstetrics, pain and urology, among others.
“Our investment in AMS illustrates VSS’s approach to structuring transactions, typically preserving significant equity ownership for our management partners while ensuring low leverage,” said Jeffrey Stevenson, Managing Partner of VSS. “At the same time, this approach provides our portfolio companies with the needed financial flexibility to pursue growth opportunities.”
Founded in 1996, AMS allows anesthesiologists and surgeons across the country to focus on providing best-in-class patient care and safety in the office setting by handling comprehensive knowledge, resources and shared back-office services including billing and collections, compliance, IT, human resources, procurement, and marketing. AMS’ mission of increased quality and safety at a fraction of the cost while optimizing patient experience is a combination that aligns with the industry’s needs and future.
“We think AMS’ reputation and its full-service, integrated anesthesia and administrative services model provides a solid foundation for building a national office-based anesthesia (“OBA”) platform that is safe, efficient and fulfills a critical need for physicians and patients, while significantly reducing the cost of surgical procedures,” adds Victoria Durand, Associate at VSS.
Public demand for outpatient surgery is continuing to increase nationwide with COVID-19 further accelerating the migration of procedures out of the hospital. Physicians and patients see the significant financial and time savings benefits while health systems are investing more than ever in their outpatient care facilities. High quality surgery centers and physician office surgical suites have proven that these sites of service offer the same quality and safety as in a hospital setting. This along with the billions of dollars in potential savings for governmental and commercial carriers is driving the transformation of care as we know it. The physician office, clinic, and surgical center settings are evolving to take on more of this demand to further cement them as a future cornerstone of value-based care.
“VSS shares our vision for expanding AMS’ regional footprint in Northeast Illinois organically and through affiliations with complementary outpatient anesthesia practices,” said Scott Mayer, Chief Executive Officer of Ambulatory Management Solutions. “We look forward to building upon AMS’ scalable platform with VSS to empower physicians’ delivery of value-based healthcare while easing the administrative burdens associated with outpatient surgery.”
VSS has previously invested in growing healthcare services businesses, including Podiatry Growth Partners, which enables podiatrists to spend more time caring for patients and effectively manage their back-office functions; Endo1 Partners, a provider of comprehensive business and operational support services to endodontics practices; and BRC Healthcare, a provider of treatment services designed to meet the needs of growing population with substance use disorders.
Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to AMS.
About VSS
VSS Capital Partners (“VSS”), a private investment firm, invests in the healthcare, business services, education and information industries. Headquartered in New York, VSS provides capital for growth financing, recapitalizations, strategic acquisitions, and buyouts to lower middle market companies and management teams with the goal of building companies organically as well as through focused add-on acquisition programs. VSS makes privately negotiated investments across the capital structure and invests in situations requiring control or non-control equity, mezzanine securities, and structured equity securities. VSS has over three decades of experience, made investments in 88 portfolio companies, with over 350 add-on acquisitions, and manages $3.5 billion in aggregate committed capital across 7 funds. For more information, please visit: www.vss.com.
About AMS
AMS provides turnkey anesthesia and administrative support services for in-office and ambulatory-based surgical procedures to physician practices across various specialties that are
completing surgical procedures for lower-risk patients in an office setting. The Company’s comprehensive office-based surgical solution has helped to drive significant growth of outpatient surgery and ease the burden associated with outpatient surgery on independent physicians. AMS helped to create a safe, effective, and financially viable office-based anesthesia model that has been replicated throughout the country. We have been focused on value-based healthcare since we started and continue to evolve the outpatient anesthesia model and services we provide to meet the needs of this unique and ever-changing environment. For more information, please visit: https://ams-md.com/.