Surgical Care Affiliates

Surgical Care Affiliates was founded in 1982 by Joel Gordon in Nashville, Tennessee. Gordon had previously founded General Care Corp (NYSE: GCE) in 1969, a hospital company that was sold to Hospital Corporation of America (“HCA”) in 1980.[6]
Subsequent to selling General Care Corp to HCA, Gordon partnered with Andrew “Woody” Miller, an HCA executive,[7] and Jack Massey, a co-founder of HCA and American venture capitalist, to launch SCA.[8] SCA raised capital by listing shares on the New York Stock Exchange and used the proceeds to acquire existing surgery centers and build new surgery centers, mostly in the southeast.[9] From 1982 to 1995, SCA grew to approximately 67 facilities, with Ken Melkus serving as the CEO for most of that time.[10]

HealthSouth Corporation acquired SCA in October 1995 and closed the Nashville office which had been consolidated into the company's surgery division office located at the HealthSouth Corporate Campus in Birmingham, Alabama.[11] The acquisition, along with several previous surgery center company acquisitions, made HealthSouth the largest provider of outpatient surgery in the nation with a total of 126 surgery centers.[12] HealthSouth acquired other surgery center companies, including ASC Network Corp and National Surgery Centers, and independent facilities during this period.[12] In March 2007, HealthSouth announced that it would sell its surgery center division to TPG Capital (TPG), a large private equity firm.[13]

In June 2007, TPG Capital acquired the assets of HealthSouth’s surgery division, effectively forming SCA as a new, stand-alone company.[13] The company was named Surgical Care Affiliates, in recognition of the original SCA, and headquartered in Birmingham where the company continues to maintain its administrative headquarters and largest base of employees.[14]
In May 2008, Andrew Hayek was hired as president and chief executive officer.[15][16] Hayek had previously been president of a division of DaVita Healthcare Partners (now Optum) and had been president and chief operating officer of Alliance Healthcare Services.[1]

In October 2013, the company issued an IPO.[17]

In January 2021, the company was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of labor market collusion. According to the Department of Justice, "Beginning at least as early as May 2010 and continuing until at least as late as October 2017, SCA conspired with a company based in Texas to allocate senior-level employees by agreeing not to solicit each other’s senior-level employees. Beginning at least as early as February 2012 and continuing until at least as late as July 2017, SCA separately conspired with a company based in Colorado to allocate senior-level employees through a similar non-solicitation agreement."[18] In July 2021, the Colorado company was identified by the Department of Justice as DaVita Inc.[19]

In May 2022, the company rebranded from Surgical Care Affiliates to SCA Health.

SCA is the foundational corporate partner to the nonprofit One World Surgery.[27] One World Surgery funds and operates an ambulatory surgery center located near Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on the grounds of a 2,000 acre orphanage (part of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos network) with more than 500 children.[28] During week-long surgical medical mission trips to Honduras, US-based physicians, nurses, clinical and non-clinical personnel provide free surgical care to people who cannot afford care, or have limited access to care. The program partnered with the Holy Family Surgery Center.

• Official website
• • Historical business data for Surgical Care Affiliates, Inc.:
  • SEC filings