Private Specialty Practices Get Gobbled Up

(see:Dealmaking stayed hot in 2018, with a focus on physician practices)This year, buyers hungry for acquisitions paid particular attention to specialty practices in such areas as orthopedics, cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology and dentistry. Primary care is in strong demand, too. As far as who is buying practices, it's a three-way race between the old hats —health systems—plus private equity firms and, a relatively new entrant: payers. UnitedHealth Group's OptumCare has been particularly aggressive about buying physician practices as part of its strategy to get as close to consumers as possible. But Centene Corp., Humana and Anthem are adopting a similar strategy as they work to control spending. Private equity investors and payers may have the upper hand. Health systems are known to struggle when it comes to integrating practices into their operations, and often aren't willing to make the capital investments physicians demand....Groups like Optum, by contrast, are more inclined to support physicians' instincts. “I think their strategy is one that's quite remarkable relative to what's going on in the industry today, ” Caine said....Fifer agreed providers are hesitant about the move toward value-based care given its potential to cut into their revenue. “It's human nature to be hesitant and quite honestly, it's human nature to gravitate toward something that's familiar, ” he said. On a broader scale, it's healthy for p...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Source Type: blogs