NEW CANAAN, CT – April 14, 2026 –eHealth M&A activity increased sharply in the first quarter of 2026, rising to 63 transactions, according to data captured in the LevinPro HC platform. This marks a 21% increase from the 52 deals reported in Q4:25, but a 25% decrease from the 84 deals announced in Q1:25.
Companies and firms offering medical practice management software (MPMS), which helps healthcare practices and providers manage backend operations, were the most popular targets in the first quarter, with 17 deals, or 27% of all activity. This is a small rise from the 14 deals reported in Q4:25 and the 12 deals announced in Q1:25. Revenue cycle management firms (RCM) were also popular with investors, with 13 deals targeting these companies. This marks more than double the five announced in the final quarter of 2025. Telehealth also accounted for a sizable portion of deal activity, with nine transactions, notably fewer than the 12 in Q4:25 and the 14 in the first quarter of 2025.
Strategic investors, including other digital health companies and publicly traded players, were the most active buyer type, with 42 deals (66%). Some of these deals include OpenAI’s purchase of Torch Health Inc. and WELLSTAR Technologies Corp.’s acquisition of two Canadian RCM companies.
Private equity-backed firms were also active, announcing 24 transactions, accounting for 38% of activity. Parthenon Capital’s NuvemRx acquired par8o, an MPMS company, and Zelis Healthcare purchased Rivet, an RCM company. In addition to being backed by Parthenon, Zelis Healthcare is also backed by Bain Capital, whose Brazilian portfolio company Bionexo acquired an electronic medical record organization.
Disclosed spending increased significantly in both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year analysis. In Q1:26, total purchase prices totaled more than $11.24 billion across six acquisitions, a notable increase from Q4:25 when four acquisitions totaled $188.5 million and from Q1:25 when disclosed spending reached $7.961 billion across 14 deals.
The largest deal of the quarter was Danaher Corporation’s acquisition of Masimo Corporation for $9.9 billion. Danaher is a global life sciences and diagnostics company. According to its most recent financial report, the company’s revenues for full year 2025 were $24.6 billion. Masimo Corporation develops and manufactures monitoring technologies, including innovative measurements, sensors, patient monitors and automation and connectivity solutions. According to its most recent earnings filing, Masimo reported a total consolidated revenue of nearly $2.1 billion for full-year 2024, and an EBITDA loss of nearly $140 million.
Another notable acquisition was Universal Health Services’ (UHS) acquisition of Talkspace, a telebehavioral healthcare company based in New York City, for $835 million. This is UHS’s only acquisition of the year, so far. UHS operates a variety of inpatient and outpatient hospitals across 40 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. According to its most recent annual filing, Talkspace reported full-year 2025 revenue of $228.9 million and an adjusted EBITDA of $15.8 million.
“Although there were some high-profile deals in Q1, most transactions were for startups using AI in innovative ways, whether to streamline operations or handle clinical data,” said Kate Humphrey, Editorial Analyst at Irving Levin Associates, which publishes the data on its LevinPro HC platform. “The healthcare market has been extremely volatile these past few years, and investors believe AI is going to be in high demand due to its potential in helping navigate these challenges.”
All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A Report, which is part of LevinPro HC, a research intelligence platform published by Irving Levin Associates, LLC. For information or to order the reports, call 800-248-1668. Irving Levin Associates is celebrating more than 70 years of delivering exclusive M&A intelligence to its sophisticated audience of seniors housing and healthcare investors. The company was established in 1948 and has offices in New Canaan, Connecticut and North Bethesda, Maryland. The company publishes research reports and newsletters and maintains databases on the healthcare and senior housing M&A markets.
