The time has come when we are all being forced to embrace technology, whether we like it or not. Before the coronavirus pandemic, some businesses implemented extensive information technology (IT) solutions to support their operations while others resisted. In these unprecedented times, we will need to not only embrace technology, but rely on it.

While all of healthcare has been hit hard by the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, some industries have been affected more than others. Much of the news has focused on the impact to those facilities providing care to clients and patients, such as nursing homes, senior living, hospitals, and urgent care centers, there's another industry that's been greatly impacted but is under the radar: pharmacy.

The healthcare industry is continually in flux. Business owners and operators of urgent care centers (UCCs) are constantly experiencing changing regulatory guidelines and suppressing reimbursement from payors. These unpreventable changes and a demanding environment may lead owners to seek monetization of their assets. For those UCC owners considering selling, there's good news: The marketplace is currently hungry for your companies and buyers are eagerly gobbling up well-performing UCCs.

Integrated care is one of the big buzz words in the human services industry. Integrated care is fundamentally the combination of primary healthcare and mental healthcare in a single setting for the purpose of creating a team-based approach to general and mental care. As managed care becomes more commonplace in human services, payers are pressing for its providers to achieve the objectives of integrated care. As a result, providers are finding themselves tasked with the challenge of further decreasing cost while improving outcomes for those receiving support services.

In July 2015, Diplomat Pharmacy was the talk of the town. Momentum seemed like it was on the company's side, with Diplomat looking poised to be a major player for many years to come. But, as it is often said, "the higher they rise, the harder they fall." In December 2019, UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx agreed to acquire Diplomat for about $4 a share in cash. What caused this "All-American success story" to come up so short on expectations?

We're in that time of the year when business owners see their year-end financials and begin to make decisions for the upcoming year(s). Oftentimes, the succession planning you had in mind when you started the company, such as passing the torch to a family member, doesn't look as promising as you had hoped (if you even planned that far ahead). If succession planning isn't an option for you, there's one that almost certainly is: selling your company.

As we get closer to the end of the year, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess the healthcare market — more specifically, what’s been happening and what’s likely to come. There’s no denying that the healthcare landscape is changing rapidly. 2019 has been a year where every sector has experienced disruption. If you want to succeed in 2020 and beyond, you must understand and be prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

To better help you accomplish these objectives, here are brief summaries of some of the most significant areas that rattled the healthcare industry this year and are likely to pick up steam as we enter the new year.

Seven out of 10 mergers and acquisitions fail. Why would you consider selling your business with these statistics. We'll highlight nine causes for failed mergers and how to address these shortcomings.

Financial buyers, particularly private equity groups (PEGs), are currently in heated battles with strategic buyers for quality durable medical equipment (DME) deals. Well-run, well-managed DME companies are at the forefront of such intense competitions as they seek all-time-high valuations from financial and strategic pursuers alike.

This article on healthcare company valuation examines the amount private equity firms are paying for companies in 2019. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies or that engage in buyouts of public companies, resulting in the delisting of public equity. Much of private equity funding is spent on healthcare, manufacturing, and service businesses.

There's some good news for owners of durable medical equipment (DME) and home medical equipment (HME) businesses: The transactions market (i.e., mergers and acquisitions) is not too hot and not too cold, but just right at the moment.

In years past, strong financial numbers were often enough to hook a qualified buyer. However, these days, buyers — especially those pursuing intellectual and/or developmental disability (I/DD), mental health, and substance use disorder treatment organizations — are looking for much more. They want to see if the organization has special qualities; something that stands out and will help propel the organization to new heights under new ownership. They are looking for the "sizzle."