Dive Brief:
- According to a PwC 2014 US health services deals insights report, total health services deal value rose 152% during Q1 of this year, though the pace of deals remained about the same as Q1 2013.
- Brett Hickman, partner and PwC's US health care deals leader, says that providers are merging as they make the journey towards a new model which focuses on less acute care and offers better and more frequent access at a much lower cost.
- He also notes that providers will need to have a significantly larger population to take on the risk involved in this new model.
Dive Insight:
It is worth noting that hospital deal volume fell 43% during the first quarter of this year when compared to the first quarter of 2013. However, deal value increased from $320 million during Q1 2013 to $388 million during the first quarter of this year. According to Hickman, this isn't a sign that the M&A market is slowing down, but rather that bigger deals — such as systems buying systems — are becoming more commonplace. Upcoming deals, he says, will get bigger and be much more complex.