Trend Watch: Physician Practice Acquisitions, 2012-2013

Are hospitals actively acquiring physician practices, and if so, which specialties? That’s the question the first in a planned annual survey by Jackson Healthcare sets out to answer. Here are the key findings:

• Over half of reporting hospitals had acquired or were planning to acquire physician practices.
• Family practice and other primary care, including internal medicine and obstetrics/gynecology specialties, were of  top interest.
• Cardiology and general surgery specialties also ranked relatively high in acquisition interest.
• The top reason for a hospital acquiring a medical practice was physicians approaching the hospital, seeking to sell their practices. Hospitals bought them primarily to build/maintain a competitive advantage or as part of a physician recruitment strategy.

Source: Trend watch: physician practice acquisitions; tracking which physician practices hospitals are acquiring. Jackson Healthcare, 2013. http://www.jacksonhealthcare.com/media-room/surveys/trend-watch-physician-practice-acquisitions-2012-2013.aspx

Related resources:

Halley MD. Owning medical practices: best practices for sustainable results. AHA Press, 2011. More details for purchasing book: http://ams.aha.org/EWEB/DynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=ProdDetailAdd&ivd_prc_prd_key=48a43cee-9de8-49e8-b0fc-b3445003ff3b

Lister E and Sagin T. Creating the hospital group practice: the advantages of employing or affiliating with physicians. Health Administration Press, 2009. More details for purchasing book: http://www.ache.org/pubs/redesign/productcatalog.cfm?PC=WWW1-2135

Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org

Healthcare Mergers & Acquistions – 2012 Trend Data

Irving Levin Associates has released summary data on health care M&A activity during 2012. Deal volume for hospitals showed an uptick of 2.2% over 2011 — 94 deals, up from 92 in 2011. However, dollar value of the deals declined  77.2%, from $8.3 billion in 2011 to $1.9 billion in 2012. In the health services market overall, the number of deals was up 8.9%, but total dollar value was down 31.5%.

Significant growth in deal dollar value was seen for the home health/hospice, physician medical groups, behavioral health, and managed care sectors. For the entire health sector – both technology [biotech, ehealth, devices, and pharma] and health services – the deal dollars shrank 38% while deal volume grew 5.9%.

Source: Health care M&A spending falls nearly 40% in 2012, lowest year on record since 2003, according to Irving Levin Associates, Inc. Business Wire, Jan. 21, 2013. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130121005788/en/Health-Care-MA-Spending-Falls-40-2012.

Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org