The number of physician group acquisitions last year grew significantly over 2020, according to a report from professional service network PwC.
Five things to know:
1. There were 407 physician group deals from Nov. 15, 2020, to Nov. 15, 2021. Over the same month-to-month period in 2017 to 2019, there were about 200 to 250 deals per year.
2. Physician group deals rocketed 119 percent year over year and totaled $5.5 billion.
3. Private equity and corporate buyers are driving demand for healthcare deals across all sectors, and multiples are close to where they were at the end of 2020.
4. While the number of physician group deals increased, the volume of hospital deals dropped 16 percent, to 66 deals last year.
5. The mean enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization multiple for healthcare deals last year was 15.2x.