Gary W. Herschman and Kevin J. Ryan, Members of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Newark and Chicago offices, respectively, were quoted in the Bloomberg BNA Health Law Reporter, in “Health-Care Transactions Update: Health IT Dominates Fall,” by Mary Anne Pazanowski.
Following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):
Deals involving the health information technology sector dominated the health-care transactions announced or closed in October, which saw a slight drop overall from the previous month.
About 20 percent of the October’s deals took place in the HIT and software sector, putting it second—behind only long-term care deals—in the year-to-date list. Technological developments that enable the provision of quality and cost-effective care are “moving quickly,” so it’s no surprise industry players are trying to step up their holdings in this sector, Gary Herschman, of Epstein Becker & Green PC, Newark, N.J., told Bloomberg Law.
Herschman, a Bloomberg Law advisory board member, said October’s slight lull in deal activity wasn’t uncommon for this time of year. Dealmakers often will wait to close a transaction until either at the end of the year or after January 1 of the following year in order to delay the tax consequences, he said. …
The physician practice sector has the third-highest number of deals year-to-date. With deals numbering in the double-digits for the fourth consecutive month, the sector “matched a similar streak in the highly pursued health-care HIT sector,” Herschman said.
“Notably, the October deals show continued interest in several previously sought after specialties—such as dermatology, pain, women’s care and fertility practices—and also ongoing interest in the relatively ‘newer’ hot specialties of urology, gastroenterology, and orthopedic groups,” Herschman said.
