In the third quarter of 2025, private equity firms and their sponsored companies (“PE Buyers,” collectively) announced 183 transactions in the healthcare M&A market, or approximately 34.4% of all the 532 announced healthcare deals, according to data captured in the LevinPro HC platform.
This represents an increase in M&A volume from the 148 PE transactions announced in the second quarter of 2025, yet activity is on par with the 182 deals reported in Q3:24.
In Q3:25, disclosed spending totaled nearly $7.4 billion across 12 deals with a PE Buyer, averaging about $616 million per deal. The transaction with the largest purchase price was Patient Square Capital’s acquisition of Premier, Inc. for $2.6 billion. Premier, Inc.’s revenue for fiscal year (FY) 2024, ended June 30, 2024, was approximately $1.3 billion, and its FY 2024 adjusted EBITDA was approximately $446 million.
Physician Medical Groups (PMG) drew the highest interest from PE Buyers, with 62 deal announcements, accounting for nearly 34% of all PE activity in the healthcare space. In the PMG sector, PE Buyers targeted dental practices in more than half of the acquisitions, with 33 deal announcements. Dermatology was the second most active PMG specialty in the PE space, with seven transactions, while eye care came in third with four transactions.
PE Buyers also turned their attention toward the digital health market, announcing 28 transactions in Q3:25, or more than 15% of all PE activity in the quarter. This is an increase from Q2:25 when PE Buyers reported 23 transactions. Revenue cycle management was the most active eHealth specialty with eight acquisitions. Analytics and telehealth were also active specialties, with five deal announcements each.
In Q3:25, there were 22 PE-backed Other Services transactions, 11 Laboratories, MRI and Dialysis acquisitions and nine deals each in the Behavioral Health Care, Life Sciences R&D and Medical Device sectors.
The most active PE buyer was Phase 1 Equity with five dental deal announcements in Q3:25. New York-based Phase 1 Equity is a doctor-owned, doctor-led private equity firm for orthodontists and pediatric dentists. It was founded in 2022 by Chicago-based PE firm DuneGlass Capital.
Some private equity firms also announced investments in new companies throughout the third quarter, such as ArchiMed, The Carlyle Group and GTCR.
“PE activity showed resilience and growth in Q3:25, with volume up 24% from the prior quarter, making up more than a third of all deals announced,” said Avery Swett, Editorial Analyst at Irving Levin Associates, which publishes the data on its LevinPro HC platform. “The steady year-over-year pace, even as some serial acquirers slow down, signals PE’s pivot to more selective, platform-building strategies that could yield bigger exits down the line. We anticipate activity to continue to pick up as we close out the year.”
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.
