The Ledger

Surgery Partners’ same-facility revenue rose 6.0% last quarter, but its surgical cases rose only 0.2%, and the company will no longer give investors guidance. The surgery center operator’s third quarter results release, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) November 9, shows revenue of $815.3 million against $821.5 million a year earlier, a 0.8% decline that includes the Idaho Falls hospitals it sold to Intermountain Health in September. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was $132.7 million against $136.4 million, a margin of 16.3% against 16.6%, and the net loss attributable to common stockholders was $21.1 million. Same-facility revenue per case rose 5.8% to $4,375 while cases rose 0.2% to 181,102, so nearly all of the growth came from price and mix, not volume. Net debt ran about 4.4 times EBITDA under the credit agreement, with $354.5 million of cash. Who it hits: rival surgery center chains, the health systems whose referrals feed these centers, and corporate development teams pricing outpatient assets. So what: the company says it stopped guidance because of the pending HealthSpan Partners merger, now at $25.00 per share in cash, up from $23.50, with a ticking fee of 10% a year after March 1, 2027 that can lift the maximum to $26.61 per share. The release says an unnamed party offered $28.00 per share in cash on a nonbinding basis, and the special committee found it was not a superior proposal, citing a longer or uncertain time to close and regulatory risk. Bloomberg reported that bidder was UnitedHealth; neither company has confirmed it, so treat that as Low confidence. Bain Capital, which owns about 39%, rolls its shares into the buyer and keeps its voting agreement. Closing is still expected in the first quarter of 2027. Confidence: High on the figures, which come from the company’s own SEC exhibits.

UnitedHealth published a consultant review of how it writes coverage policy, and the review did not test whether those policies drive denials. The November 2026 update to its Independent Review Program says FTI Consulting and Rubrum Advising found UnitedHealthcare’s approach to developing and maintaining medical policy “industry-leading,” with a team of more than 80 professionals and nine sampled policies that were supported by clinical research. The improvement areas are documentation: when to write a new policy, how to vet outside experts, and shorter, clearer policies. Healthcare Dive reported that the audit did not evaluate policy content or how policies are applied in coverage decisions, including cost, and that a spokesperson did not say why. Who it hits: hospital and physician revenue cycle teams that appeal UnitedHealthcare prior authorization denials, and investors tracking the Department of Justice probes and state attorney general scrutiny the article cites. So what: nothing in the review changes appeal volumes or approval rates, so providers should keep budgeting for denial work. Confidence: Med. We read UnitedHealth’s own summary page, not the full report, and the scope limits come from Healthcare Dive’s reading of it.

A note on today’s scan: the only fresh primary-source items we could confirm dated November 12 or 13 were the UnitedHealth review and, for the Surgery Partners story, filings from November 9 that carry first-time financial detail. We found no new health system rating actions, bankruptcies, antitrust actions or earnings releases dated November 12 or 13, and no new filing in the Redeemer Health bankruptcy beyond the December 14 final cash hearing we covered yesterday. Frontier scan: we checked air ambulance and medical transport finance and found nothing dated this month, so no source was added.

THE DEAL SHEET

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