Attorneys Gary W. Herschman (Newark, New York), Paul D. Gilbert (Nashville, Washington, DC), and Yulian Shtern (Newark), in firm's the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, were quoted in the Bloomberg Law Mergers & Antitrust, in “Health-Care Info Tech Companies Make Moves in November,” by Mary Anne Pazanowski.
Following is an excerpt:
Health-care information technology companies stole the deal spotlight in November, setting up end-of-year numbers rivaling those of the long-term care, physician practice, and health and hospital system sectors.
There were 16 HIT transactions, according to a list of deals announced or closed in November. The list was compiled for Bloomberg Law by investment bankers using publicly available information, including articles, websites, and press releases.
Some of these deals were backed by private equity, a trend that can be tracked through the list of transactions announced and closed throughout 2018.
Many reflected “a growing demand for specialty or clinical setting-specific software,” including behavioral-health management and nutrition services software, Yulian Shtern, of Epstein Becker & Green, Newark, N.J., told Bloomberg Law. …
Private Equity Stays in the Game
Private equity investors’ focus on HIT in November didn’t derail their interest in physician practice groups.
“Private-equity-driven acquisitions in gastroenterology continue to trend upward,” Gary W. Herschman, of Epstein Becker & Green’s Newark and New York offices, told Bloomberg law. November’s transactions may be just a precursor to heightened private equity investment in the GI space, he said. …
Ancillary services, like radiology and diagnostic imaging, also continue be a hot area for deal activity, as is the urgent care space, Herschman said. The continuing demand for convenient, cost-effective care outside the hospital setting is driving those transactions, he said. …
New Law Prompts Behavioral Health Deals
This subsector has been consolidating “at a rapid pace,” Paul D. Gilbert, of Epstein Becker & Green’s Nashville, Tenn., office, told Bloomberg Law. Congress’s passage of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act in October may be sparking even greater interest in it, he said.
The SUPPORT Act doesn’t provide more federal money for providers, but “it made a number of changes intended to enhance access to treatment and to support providers of medically assisted treatment,” Gilbert said.