By Madeline Ashley - Becker's Hospital Review
It's been a busy 2024 for Ardent Health acquisitions. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based health system acquired nine urgent care centers in 2024 in Topeka, Kan., and East Texas, and 18 urgent care clinics across New Mexico and Oklahoma in early 2025.
The system, which went public in July 2024, comprises 30 acute care hospitals, 200 care sites and more than 1,800 providers across six states.
"This is exactly what we said we were going to do when we went public," Marty Bonick, president and CEO of Ardent Health, told Becker's. "Inside of our eight markets, we've got a plan [looking at] what are the necessary outpatient and ambulatory components we need, whether that's urgent care, ASC, freestanding emergency room, micro hospital [or] imaging centers."
Ardent added 170 new employees following the 18-clinic acquisition, including 50 providers, a spokesperson for Ardent confirmed with Becker's.
The system has also integrated Epic's electronic health record into the nine clinics acquired in 2024, and is working to integrate the platform into the other 18 clinics, which will take around six months.
"We want to build that connectivity, and Epic is a key platform for us to be able to do that," Mr. Bonick said. "To have visibility into health needs, as well as our continuum to connect you to the right level of care, the right level of primary specialty or procedural care, and to be able to meet [patient] needs."
Mr. Bonick said providing patients with care close to home was a driving factor when selecting locations for the clinics. Looking to future growth, he also said the system has no plans of slowing down.
"[W]e will continue to look for acquisition opportunities, but we will also be looking to put shovels in the ground to build new facilities where it makes sense, or where there's not an acquisition available."