71% of Healthcare Orgs Say Mergers and Acquisitions Will Increase

Compelling results from the new HealthLeaders Media Intelligence Report indicate that M&A activity levels will remain strong for some time.

Healthcare industry merger, acquisition, and partnership (MAP) activity remains strong, with little change in momentum after years of consolidation activity.

According to the 2018 HealthLeaders Media Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships Survey, 71% of respondents expect their organizations’ MAP activity to increase within the next three years, a compelling result indicating that MAP activity levels will remain strong for some time. Only 20% say they expect MAP activity to remain the same, and only 2% expect this to decrease.

“I believe that the healthcare market is still under a lot of pressure from continuing reimbursement and regulatory challenges,” says Pamela Stoyanoff, MBA, CPA, FACHE, executive vice president, chief operating officer at Methodist Health System, a Dallas-based nonprofit integrated healthcare network with 10 hospitals and 28 family health centers.

“The competitive landscape is also changing, with companies entering the healthcare space that haven't been there before, like Amazon, and unique partnerships forming like Optum buying the Health Care Advisory Board and CVS buying Aetna,” she says.

Sustained activity levels

The case for sustained activity levels over the next few years can be seen in the following: 36% of respondents say that their organization’s MAP plans for the next 12–18 months consist of both exploring potential deals and completing deals underway.

If you combine this result with the response for exploring potential deals (32%), the total reveals that 68% of respondents say they are exploring potential deals, a strong indicator for future MAP activity. Only 12% of respondents say they will be completing deals underway and mention no plans for future MAP activity.

Another aspect that reflects bullish sentiment is the dollar value of MAP activity, with 73% of respondents expecting the dollar value of their organization’s MAP activity to increase within the next three years.

Only 15% expect MAP dollar value to remain the same, and only 2% expect it to decrease. These results are considerably more positive than last year’s survey results, which were increase (55%), remain the same (34%), and decrease (12%).