Cardiology physician practice M&A activity overview
Several factors are driving consolidation of cardiology physician practices by both strategic healthcare organizations and private equity funds
- Highly fragmented: The cardiology physician practice market in the U.S. is highly fragmented and is ripe for merger and acquisition activity, investments and partnerships.
- Ripe for consolidation: Consolidation is expected to be driven by the need to efficiently manage the operations of the practice, alleviate the administrative burden, introduce scale and size into the market, and to compete with large healthcare centers and systems.
- Shift from strategic buyers to PE: The sector has been relatively untouched by significant investment and consolidation activity, specifically from private equity sponsors.
- While strategic buyers have historically dominated the consolidation of cardiology physician practices, private equity activity in the space is expected to ramp up.
- CMS rulings: CMS 2020 final ruling will stimulate an increase in procedure volume to independent practices with ASCs, thus increasing specialty revenue and investor interest.
- With 23 cardiovascular codes (representing 566,000 outpatient Medicare procedures) allowed in the ASC setting, ASC’s can capitalize between $247 million and $740 million in new revenue.
Cardiology physician practice M&A activity1
Deal activity since 2015
Sources:1Capital IQ, Press releases, Pitchbook.
Deal activity by geography since 2017
Key factors driving consolidation activity in the cardiology physician practice sector
Highly fragmented market
The market is highly fragmented and is largely served by smaller, regional practices with less than five physicians.
Favorable macro trends
Rising demand for services from an aging population combined with the low supply of cardiologists presents significant growth opportunities.
Diverse revenue streams
Multiple sources of revenue can be generated from a variety of ancillary services including ASC’s and in-office diagnostic imaging including EKG, Holter testing, MRI.
Regulatory environment
Cardiology practices with size and scale can realize benefits from the transition to an outcome-based model from a fee-for-service model.
Centralizing back office functions
Larger practices can capitalize on economies of scale by combining back office functions and can leverage increased negotiating powers with payors.
