Founded in 2009 by Dr. Robert Wills and Jared Leger, Arise Healthcare offers its Austin-area physicians the ability to own a percentage of the facility at which they have an office, said Leger, who is also the company's CEO and managing partner. During the 1990s and early 2000s, physician-owned hospitals increased throughout the country before 2003 federal regulations prohibited physicians from being able to self-refer to new hospitals, according to the American Hospital Association. In 2006, the constraints were lifted. Governing agencies, including the AHA, feared self-referrals would result in more services and higher health care costs, Leger said. However, he said a Kaiser Health News report showed physician-owned medical facilities did not have an increase in owner referrals and performed better regarding patient satisfaction. "We want to provide health care the way it was intended," Leger said. "When doctors get involved in management, [patients] get better treatment. There is a sense of ownership when the doctor hand-picks his staff. With the bigger facilities, doctors don't feel engaged." Leger said his centers provide medical services including urgent care, physical therapy, urology, orthopedics, imaging and others, but services vary by location. The Stonegate Surgery Center became Arise's first ambulatory surgery center—health care facilities that provide same-day surgical care—in 2009, Leger said. On June 30, 2013, the company purchased Rollingwood-based Austin Surgical Hospital from Symbion Inc. and renamed it Arise Austin Medical Center. Following the acquisition, Arise Healthcare established three other local ambulatory surgery centers—Riverplace Imaging & Women's Center, 6611 River Place Blvd., Austin; Hays Imaging Center, 135 Bunton Creek Road, Ste. 101, Kyle; and the Wound Care & Hyperbaric Center, 6633 E. Hwy. 290, Ste. 101, Austin—under the hospital's umbrella, Leger said. A health care system is permitted to expand to other off-campus health care services if its main hospital is located within a 35-mile radius, he said. "We call that our 'hub-and-spoke model' with [Arise Austin Medical Center] being our main campus," he said. "Our growth strategy is to continue with the hub-and-spoke model." Leger said Arise will open Medical Towers at Shadowglen, a wound care and imaging center in Manor, in September. The company announced April 25 that it will construct Medical Towers at Sawyer Ranch in Dripping Springs. The group is also researching adding Bastrop, Georgetown and Marble Falls facilities, he said. "People don't want to go to [downtown] main campuses anymore," Leger said. "They want [health care] that's more convenient, where they can park easily and stop by on their way to or from work. If you put ancillary services in neighborhoods, it's good for the patient."