Every year Axial asks the investors and advisors on its Healthcare Top 50 where the market is headed. Platano Advisors made the 2026 list, and the survey results are worth a close read if you own a medical practice.
The short version: buyers are active, they are selective, and most deals that fail, fail over value. Here are the six findings that matter most to a seller, and what to do about each one.
1. Buyers want physician practices
Physician practices ranked second for deal activity, named by 51.7% of surveyed dealmakers. Only behavioral health ranked higher, at 69.0%.
What it means for you: demand is not the question. There are buyers for well-run medical practices right now, including strategic buyers and private equity groups building platforms. The real question is how many of them you get into a competitive process at the same time. That number, more than anything else, decides your price.
2. High activity does not mean a high multiple
Here is the finding most owners do not expect. Physician practices ranked second for activity, yet they drew the largest share of “lower multiple” responses, at 30.8%. The same survey showed wide disagreement inside the category, with some dealmakers seeing strong valuations and others seeing weak ones.
What it means for you: buyers are paying for specific practices, not for the specialty. The spread comes from factors you can see and, in many cases, change: how much revenue depends on you personally, how clean and documented your books are, your payer mix, and whether your staff and providers will stay. We cover how buyers sort practices in Two Numbers Decide What Your Practice Sells For.
3. The top deal killer is disagreement on value
When asked what most often stops a healthcare deal from closing, 41.4% of respondents named valuation misalignment. Due diligence surprises came second, at 17.2%. Nothing else came close.
What it means for you: these two problems are connected. A price that rests on numbers the buyer cannot verify gets cut in diligence, and a price cut in week six is how deals die. The fix is to build your price on a recast of your financials that holds up under a buyer’s review, and to let competing offers set the value instead of one buyer’s opinion. How to Get Your Medical Practice Ready to Sell walks through what buyers check.
4. Regulation and reimbursement are what buyers worry about
Regulatory and policy uncertainty was the most cited challenge, named by 48.3% of respondents, with concerns ranging from Medicare and Medicaid to compliance around new technology. Reimbursement and insurance pressure followed at 27.6%.
What it means for you: buyers price risk they cannot measure. Organized payer contracts, a documented compliance program, and a clear picture of your payer mix turn an open question into a known quantity. That protects your price.
5. People are part of the price
Staffing and provider availability were named by 24.1% of dealmakers, and several pointed to an aging provider workforce. One dealmaker put it simply: an owner who can recruit and retain providers and billing staff has a real value-add.
What it means for you: a buyer is acquiring your team as much as your patient base. Written agreements, a retention plan for key people, and a transition plan for your own role all make the practice easier to buy.
6. The outlook is positive, but valuations are expected to hold steady
62.1% of surveyed dealmakers described their outlook for the next 12 months as positive and 37.9% as neutral. Nearly half, 48.3%, expect healthcare deal flow to increase, and another 48.3% expect it to stay steady. On valuations, 65.4% expect little change.
What it means for you: do not wait for the market to hand you a higher multiple. The survey says it probably will not. The value you can add between now and a sale comes from your own practice: its readiness, its documentation, and how well the process around it is run. If you are weighing timing, Sell Now or Later lays out the trade-offs.
The takeaway
Buyers are active and selective at the same time. They will pay for medical practices that are prepared, documented, and taken to market in a competitive process, and they will walk away from deals where the numbers do not hold up. Both halves of that sentence are within your control.
If you want to know how buyers would see your practice today, start with a confidential discovery call.
