Health systems, payers and private equity platforms are all still competing for GI assets, and the last 18 months show consolidation moving in multiple directions at once: mega-platforms getting bigger, PE sponsors trading assets among themselves and health systems still buying independent groups outright.
GI consolidation isn’t slowing down, it’s diversifying. Recent research from KPMG and other advisers has noted deal volume easing while deal size grows, and the five deals above back that up — a $3.9 billion platform transaction, a payer buying a regional leader outright, a health system absorbing an independent group, a PE-to-PE handoff, and a routine bolt-on all happening within about a year of each other.
Here are the five deals showing where GI consolidation stands now.
1. Cardinal Health’s GI Alliance deal matures into a multispecialty platform
On Jan. 30, Cardinal Health closed its acquisition of a 73% stake in GI Alliance (up from the 71% stake outlined when the deal was announced in November 2024), paying about $2.8 billion for the interest, a deal that valued the practice management group at nearly $3.9 billion in total enterprise value. GI Alliance, which supports more than 900 physicians across 345-plus locations in 20 states, was previously backed by its physician owners and funds affiliated with Apollo. In July 2025, Cardinal officially launched The Specialty Alliance, a national multispecialty management services organization platform built around GI Alliance alongside its oncology and other specialty assets.
2. Optum’s SCA Health buys U.S. Digestive Health Management
SCA Health, part of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, closed its acquisition of U.S. Digestive Health Management from Amulet Capital Partners in January 2025. USDH, the largest private GI group in the Philadelphia region, includes more than 250 providers across roughly 40 practice sites and 24 ASCs in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
3. UPMC absorbs an independent Pennsylvania GI group
Effective March 2, UPMC acquired Pennsylvania Gastroenterology, rebranding its two central Pennsylvania locations as UPMC Gastroenterology Associates. The deal is a reminder that health systems are still direct competitors for GI assets even as PE platforms dominate deal headlines.
4. Vesey Street Capital Partners hands Gastro MD to United Digestive
On Oct. 28, Vesey Street Capital Partners completed a full exit, selling its portfolio company Gastro MD to AGA, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based United Digestive. Under VSCP’s ownership, Gastro MD doubled its provider base and added new endoscopy centers and offices. The deal was negotiated directly between the parties without an investment banker.
5. Gastro Health keeps growing through bolt-ons
Even as megadeals slow, the Omers Private Equity-backed Gastro Health — one of the largest GI platforms, with more than 150 locations and 400 physicians — added the Hialeah, Fla., practice of Orlando Torres, MD, Jan. 1. The deal is small next to the billion-dollar transactions above, but it shows established platforms still growing steadily through single-practice bolt-ons while roll-ups cool off.
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