Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health is forming an ambulatory surgical center joint venture with Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners to expand its surgical care offerings with independent physician groups.

Made up of 13 hospitals across Indiana and Ohio, Parkview Health said the joint venture will expand its ASCs across Indiana. 

Parkview and Surgery Partners’ JV model “will work with physicians to build and acquire ASCs with a focus on increasing access outside of Parkview’s core service area,” according to the organizations’ Feb. 20 announcement, shared with Becker’s. The number of facilities was not specified. 

Surgery Partners operates more than 180 ASCs, surgical hospitals, multi-specialty physician practices and urgent care facilities across 33 states. The Parkview joint venture marks the company’s entrance into Indiana. 

Parkview’s physician group includes nearly 1,200 providers in more than 40 specialties throughout northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio. The organizations said the JV will give surgeons  more opportunity to further invest in their practice and “benefit from expert support services while retaining their independence and flexibility.” 

Parkview currently has ASCs in northeast Indiana, such as ASC Parkview SurgeryONE, which is the result of its 2013 partnership with Ortho NorthEast, or ONE. Earlier this year, the nonprofit health system made headlines for the reverse strategy — it transitioned an outpatient medical facility with an emergency room into a full-service Parkview Kosciusko Hospital that provides inpatient and outpatient services.