Forty percent of ASC chains report observing increased acquisition activity in the past year, according to the HealthCare Appraisers ASC Valuation 2018 Survey.
While the highest percentage of respondents, which represent 700 ASCs nationwide, are seeing an increase in acquisition activity, 33 percent reported a decrease and 27 percent said there wasn't a change from 2017 to 2018. As may be expected, the survey also queried about the level of competition from acquisitions; 40 percent reported an increase in acquisitions while 27 percent said there were no changes from the previous year.
Most ASC chains, 40 percent, reported acquiring one to six ASCs in the year prior to the survey while another 20 percent acquired six to 10 centers. Twenty-seven percent of respondents didn't acquire any centers in the past year and 13 percent acquired 16 or more.
Relative to the sales, the respondents reported multiples were largely the same from year to year; 67 percent said there was no change, while 27 percent reported an increase.