Hospital chain Tenet Healthcare Corporation has decided to form a joint venture with closely held United Surgical Partners International Inc. for the creation of the largest operator of outpatient surgery centers in the United States.

In the Philadelphia region, Tenet owns three hospitals, including Hahnemann University Hospital, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and the St. Chris Pediatric Urgent Care facility in Jenkintown.

The companies, in a statement, said that Tenet will contribute 44 freestanding surgery centers and 20 imaging locations, whereas USPI, owned by private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, will add 202 ambulatory surgery centers and 16 surgical hospitals.

Trevor Fetter, chief executive officer Tenet, said that with the help of the deal, Tenet will gain a bigger foothold in outpatient surgery clinics, which can be more profitable as compared to the hospitals as they have lower overhead costs and focus on routine operations that can be managed efficiently, like joint replacements or oral surgery.

Fetter added that over the previous six years, Tenet has been on a buying spree of such centers and is looking forward to do more deals in the space.

He added, "As consumers are increasingly being held responsible for the cost of their health care, they are looking at these ambulatory surgery centers and seeing they are lower-priced and very convenient".

In addition to it, Dallas-based Tenet has agreed to buy a United Kingdom hospital operator, Aspen Healthcare Ltd. from Welsh Carson for about $215 million in cash. Aspen also focuses on short-stay surgery and caters to those in the UK with private insurance. Until 2012, Aspen Healthcare Ltd. was a part of USPI.

One more deal was announced on Monday, under which a joint venture created by Welsh Carson and Select Medical Holdings Corp. has agreed to buy Humana Inc.'s Concentra unit for $1.06 billion in cash.