Webinar | Prepping Your Dental Practice for Sale

dental practice for saleChase Howard will present this live lunch n’ learn webinar for attendees interested in learning more about how to effectively prepare for the sale of their dental practice. He will cover issues like who and when to contact when considering a sale, proactive steps to lessen business disruption, when to tell your employees, and other important transition topics.

Preparing your dental practice for sale is quite possibly the biggest decision one can make! Understanding the legal landscape, the investment trends and options as well as what can optimize your business’ sale is essential. This webinar platform provides attendees to ask questions and chat directly with a highly qualified health law attorney.

April 22 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Free

Selling a Medical Practice: Business Broker Listing Agreement Basics

Business Broker Listing Agreement

Business Broker Listing AgreementBy: Amanda Bhikhari

Many physician groups and health care companies will enter the market at some point to sell their business. In the rare case, the selling group will already have a buyer who is ready and willing to pay and close on the business sale. More often than not however, most sellers will utilize the services of a business broker to help find a suitable buyer, and will compensate the broker on a commission basis upon closing.  Unlike real estate closings, whereby the main concern is the title of the property being conveyed, medical practice sales require much more detailed representation on all aspects of the business, including but not limited to, real property, existing contracts, existing patients, and medical equipment.

Before signing a business broker listing agreement, ensure that the following points are considered to avoid potential pitfalls:Continue reading

Thinking About Selling a Medical Practice? How to Prepare your Business

Florida medical attorneys

selling a practiceBy: Jackie Bain

Thinking about selling a medical practice? Here are some steps for preparing your business in advance of a transaction.

  1. Visit your financial planner.

Be sure that you can afford to leave the business, if you are retiring. Most times, buyers will require a comprehensive non-compete and you should be absolutely certain that you are financially prepared to retire or sell before you sign that restrictive covenant.

  1. Visit your accountant.

Get your financial history in order. Review and re-review your tax returns and profit statements for the past three years to ensure that the business is appropriately reflected in those records. Take the time to clean up any “creative” bookkeeping so that the buyer is given a complete and accurate picture of the business they are buying into. You are likely going to have to make a representation that your financial disclosures are true, so take the time to get comfortable with that representation early on.Continue reading

Healthcare Transactions Today: Selling a Medical Practice to Private Equity Buyers

private equityBy: Jeff Cohen

Private money (e.g. private equity) is in full swing purchasing medical practices with large profit margins (e.g. dermatology). This is NOT the same thing as when physician practice management companies (PPMCs) bought practices the 90s.  Back then, the stimulus for the seller was (a) uncertainty re practice profits in the future, and (b) the stock price.  Selling practices got some or all of the purchase price in stock, with the hopes the purchasing company stock would far exceed the multiplier applied to practice “earnings” (the “multiple”).  Buyers promised to stabilize and even enhance revenues with better management and better payer contracting.  If the optimism of the acquiring company and selling doctors was on target, everyone won because the large stock price made money for both the buyer and seller. The private equity “play” today is a little different.

Today’s sellers are approaching the private equity opportunity the same way they did with PPMCs, except for the stock focus since most private equity purchases don’t involve selling doctors obtaining stock.  Sellers hope their current practice earnings will equate to a large “purchase price.”  And they hope the buyer have better front and back office management that will result in more stable and even enhanced earnings.  And for this, the private equity buyer takes a “management fee,” which they typically promise (though not in writing) to offset with enhanced practice earnings.    Continue reading

Resurgence of Medical Practice Acquisitions in Private Equity

telemedicine contract

medical practice saleBy: Jeff Cohen

Private money (e.g. private equity) is back chasing those selling medical practices and medical business acquisitions.  This time around it is very different from similar activity in the 90s.  Back then, the movement was public companies aggregating gross income dollars, which for a time drove stock prices.  Today’s private money buyers are looking to maximize profitability through achieving efficiency and aggregating large groups for leverage and the development of new income streams.  Though stock (in the form of warrants and options or stock itself) if often on the table, it doesn’t have to be.  Buyers are doing all cash deals, albeit to some degree on an earnings basis.  If you want the full price, you have to remain involved and do what you can to maintain revenues and perhaps even drive them up.

Physicians especially have to know what they’re dealing with and then have at least a basic understanding of the issues that will drive these deals.  To begin with, “private equity” simply means private investors (typically a group that pools their capital) that buy a portion or all of a company.  Their investments are usually much larger than venture capital firm deals.  They are not publicly traded entities.  What do they want?  To invest money in mature businesses, grow a company’s profitability and then “flip” their ownership to another buyer, typically in three to five years form their launch date.  In contrast, venture capital firms usually invest in start-ups, buy 100% of the company and require control.Continue reading

2015 Healthcare M&A Turnaround Study

2015-ma-turnaround-coverThe Healthcare Transaction Advisors 2015 M&A Turnaround Study analyzes trends in patient volumes, payor mix, staffing, and costs before and after business ownership changes for over 2,500 healthcare transactions. The study subjects include 539 hospitals, 1,644 skilled nursing facilities, and 350 home health agencies that were unprofitable during the year before they filed for a change of ownership with Medicare.

Healthcare Transaction Advisors solicited a expert panel of seven healthcare transaction professionals to review the findings, including the Founder and President of Florida Healthcare Law Firm, Jeffrey L. Cohen. Click here to download a free copy of the study!