Ascend Capital Partners (Ascend), a healthcare focused private equity partnership, has acquired a majority stake in Seoul Medical Group (SMG), a physician-run Independent Physician Association (IPA) dedicated to providing both clinical and non-clinical healthcare services to patients.
SMG is the largest Korean-American-focused IPA serving over 70,000 patients and 4,800 providers, including nearly 400 primary care physicians and more than 4,400 specialists in seven markets across the United States. The company also owns a Management Services Organisation which serves SMG’s physician base and provides comprehensive administrative services to SMG’s network physicians, including claims processing, care management, compliance, quality training, utilisation management and credentialing.
Through its investment, Ascend will partner with SMG to provide capital, infrastructure and support to further empower physicians and optimise operations, including expanding AMM’s technology and IT capabilities and leveraging data analytics to improve the quality of care for patients. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2019, Ascend is led by co-founders In Seon Hwang, former global head of Healthcare at Warburg Pincus and member of the Executive Management Group, and Dr. Richard Park, founder and former CEO of CityMD.
