Envision Healthcare, in legal battles with UnitedHealthcare, files for bankruptcy

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Envision Healthcare, a physician staffing business backed by the global investment firm KKR, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It cited the company’s $7.7 billion in debt obligations, declining patient volumes, “flawed” implementation of the No Surprises Act and exclusionary health insurers as reasons for its financial decline in its announcement earlier this week.

Envision is one of the nation’s leading medical groups, delivering physician and advanced practice providers through Envision Physician Services. Its AMSURG unit partners with physicians to operate more than 250 ambulatory surgery centers nationwide, specializing in gastroenterology, ophthalmology and orthopedic care. In 2018, KKR invested $5 billion to take Envision private, in a deal valued at $9.9 billion including debt. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that an Envision bankruptcy filing would be one of the steepest losses in KKR’s history.