Physician groups are increasingly consolidating – acquisitions jumped 145 percent in 2021, according to a report from VMG Health.
Here are four big deals since the beginning of 2021 that point to a consolidating industry.
1. UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum, which owns and operates ASC management company Surgical Care Affiliates, acquired Houston-based Kelsey-Seybold for around $2 billion. Optum has yet to confirm the terms of the deal, which closed earlier this year.
Kelsey-Seybold is a multispecialty physician group with cancer and women's health centers, two ASCs and a sleep center. The group is building another ASC on a campus that will eventually have space for 82 providers.
2. Optum also agreed to acquire Atrius Health, which employs 645 physicians and primary care providers, for $236 million in March 2021. Although the acquisition came under scrutiny by the Massachusetts attorney general, the deal was confirmed in 2022. Atrius Health employs 645 physicians and primary care providers, along with 421 additional clinicians.
3. Mednax acquired nine physician practices for a total of $34.9 million in 2021, according to VMG — this included a pediatric orthopedic practice, a multilocation pediatric primary and urgent care practice, a pediatric cardiology practice, two pediatric neurology practices, one maternal medicine practice, an OB-GYN practice, a pediatric intensivist practice and a neonatology practice.
4. Babylon, a digital health company in London, acquired Novato, Calif.-based medical group Meritage Medical Network and its 700 physicians in 2021.