Private equity's presence in healthcare is changing, and ASCs can benefit from knowing how the financial players operate.
The number of private equity deals in healthcare has dropped since 2021, which saw 1,114 deals. In 2022, there were 940 transactions, and in 2023 there were an estimated 788, according to a recent report from PitchBook.
In the ASC sector specifically, there were six private equity deals in 2023, compared to eight in 2022, the report said.
The report found that the number of private equity transactions decreased in the majority of specialties in 2023, with cardiology clinical trial sites being among the outliers. Cardiology in 2023 saw its highest number of private equity deals in the last eight years.
Though the number of deals may be down in healthcare overall, ASCs may be the next target of investment firms.
"I predict venture capital and private equity money will help spur the rapid growth of ASCs in the next three to five years," Vivek Mohan, MD, a spine surgeon at with Orthopaedic Spine Institute in Hoffman Estates, Ill., told Becker's. "Within 10 years, many surgery centers will likely be consolidated either regionally or nationally to maximize profitability and streamline delivery models for each pathway — joint replacements, spinal fusions, etc. Surgeons need to be vested in ASCs now to come out ahead at the end."