Managed Care Deals Slide, Then Settle
Mergers and acquisitions in the Managed Care sector had a good run back in 2015. Since then, it’s been slow going for deal makers. Following a hot streak of transactions in 2015, M&A activity didn’t just trail off in 2016, deal volume cratered—down 52%, to 21 transactions. The recent high of 43 deals announced in 2015 has been revised downward, and will be again by the end of the year. The mega-deals of 2015, announced between Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Humana (NYSE: HUM) at $37 billion, and Anthem (NYSE: ATHM) and Cigna (NYSE: CI) at $54.2 billion, have been blocked on antitrust grounds by two federal judges. In February 2017, Aetna and Humana called off... Read More »The MACRA Effect Keeps Building
Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asked for comments and then rolled out the final rules on the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Many industry observers predicted the rules would drive the majority of independent physician practices “right into the arms” of a local hospital, health system or other entity. Those predictions appear to be true. As of mid-March 2017, 46 acquisitions of physician practices have been announced, a 105% increase from the same period a year ago. Only one of the deals disclosed a price, Optum’s (NYSE: UNH) $3.3 billion acquisition of Surgical Care Affiliates Inc. (NASDAQ:... Read More »Arizona Behavioral Health Company Grows
Behavioral health care deals dried up in February, but the action is picking up again. On March 2nd, 2017, not-for-profit Community Partners Inc., a parent company of behavioral healthcare service providers in Arizona, acquired Tucson-based Assurance Health & Wellness, for an undisclosed amount. Assurance Health, a division of Sinfonia HealthCare Corporation, serves approximately 7,000 clients in a clinic that combines primary care with behavioral health treatment. Fletcher McCusker, CEO of Sinfonia, cited financial pressures as a reason for the combination. The combined company will operate as a not-for-profit entity, and will be one of the largest providers of mental health services... Read More »
Strategic vs. Financial Healthcare Buyers in 2016
Every spring, we publish myraid statistics on the healthcare services deals announced the year before, in the form of The Health Care Services Acquisition Report. This year’s 23rd edition, which will available in late March, has this examination of what financial buyers targeted in 2016. Strategic buyers continued to dominate the health care services M&A market in 2016, as they have in the past. Their 683 deals made up 73% of the year’s deal volume. The $45.7 billion spent accounted for 63% of the combined total of $72 billion. A total of 259 deals, or 27% of the services deal volume in 2016, were carried out by financial buyers, such as private equity firms and real estate... Read More »What’s Next for Managed Care?
The managed care mega-deals of 2015 have blown up. Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Humana (NYSE: HUM) amicably terminated their $37 billion merger, following a federal judge’s order in January to block the deal on antitrust grounds. The $1 billion termination fee was in the works. A different federal judge blocked Anthem (NYSE: ANTM) and Cigna’s (NYSE: CI) $54.2 billion merger on similar grounds. Things turned ugly quickly, as Cigna declared the deal dead and sued Anthem for the $1.85 billion termination fee, and another $13 billion in damages on behalf of its shareholders. Anthem says it will go ahead with the merger. What do the Big Five health insurers do now that they’re... Read More »Schedule a demo
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