A greater share of physician organizations than hospitals and health systems expect to see a rise in the dollar value of merger and acquisition transactions they will pursue in the near future.
More than half of healthcare leaders surveyed (55%) say they expect the size of merger and acquisition transactions their organizations will pursue within the next three years will increase.
One-third (34%) expect the dollar value of the mergers and acquisitions that respondents will pursue to remain even, and only 12% expect the dollar value to decrease.
The executives responded to a HealthLeaders survey highlighted in the report, The Steady March of Strategic Partnerships.
A close examination of the survey data reveals that a greater share of physician organizations (68%) than hospitals (48%) and health systems (48%) expects the dollar value of the M&A deals their organizations will be pursuing to increase.
A greater share of hospitals (44%) than health systems (35%) and physician organizations (25%) expect the dollar value to remain even. In addition, a greater share of health systems (17%) than hospitals (8%) and physician organizations (7%) expect the dollar value to decrease.
In addition, based on net patient revenue, a greater share of small organizations (61%) than large (48%) and medium organizations (46%) expect an increase the dollar value of the M&As their organization will be pursuing.
A greater share of medium (46%) and small (34%) organizations than large organizations (22%) expect this to remain even. Further, a greater share of large organizations (30%) than medium (8%) and small organizations (5%) expect the dollar value to decrease.
While respondents expect the size of the transactions their organizations will pursue to increase, they also expect the cumulative total dollar value to decrease slightly over the next three years.
For example, although this year's survey results are relatively comparable to last year's survey, there appears to be a slight shift toward lower cumulative total dollar value.
The less-than-$50 million range is eight percentage points higher (61% versus 53%) than last year, and the $50 million and more range is eight percentage points lower (39% versus 47%).
Jonathan Bees is a research analyst for HealthLeaders.