By Caroline Hudson - Modern Healthcare
Ardent Health seeks more ambulatory care expansion
Ardent Health is doubling down on its urgent care expansion strategy, and CEO Marty Bonick said Tuesday the for-profit system is starting to see the benefits.
Bonick said urgent care centers typically bring margins in the mid-teens.
Brentwood, Tennessee-based Ardent completed an initial public offering in July and expressed its intent to buy urgent care locations in an initial post-IPO push to attract new patients.
About 45% of patients at six urgent care centers Ardent acquired last year in east Texas were new to the Ardent system, Bonick said Tuesday. About 15% returned to an Ardent facility for follow-up care within 30 days, he added.
Ardent added nine urgent care centers in 2024. In January, it announced the acquisition of 18 centers in New Mexico and Oklahoma.
The system is also interested in investing in freestanding emergency departments, ambulatory surgery centers and microhospitals in the coming years, Bonick said.