After a slow-down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, practice consolidation and mergers are expected to rise again in 2021, reaching 447 deals in March 2021*. Long-term care remains in the top 10 most active sectors in healthcare transactions to date.
Practice consolidation and mergers continue to be led by increased needs for technology and process efficiency. The pandemic has intensified the battle for improved efficiency, productivity and standardized processes for many independent practices. Even during the downtime of 2020 when the volume was down by 18%** compared to the previous year, the few deals that manage to close were characterized by reduced cost and improved outcomes through standardized processes.
Why providers are selling
Many practices are selling simply because practice owners can no longer handle the management burden that COVID-19 intensified.
The reduction in the number of patient visits and a sudden need to expand their practice into the realm of telemedicine put a strain on the limited resources of independent practices. Besides providing continuous care to patients, long-term care practitioners had to implement and manage new technology while monitoring constant changes in the external landscapes and regulations.
To add insult to injury, technology dedicated to long-term care is sparse. From EHR systems to billing services and communication tools, technology advancements in healthcare continues to ignore PALTC providers, who make up for only 1% of the healthcare professional population. Generic systems cannot fit the complex workflow of long-term care.
Administrative burden also continues to be among the top reasons for consolidation and mergers in long-term care. Unlike physicians in traditional clinics, long-term care providers do not have ancillary support staff and a back office to take care of admin tasks. Their back-office can be the kitchen counter where they manage everything from billing and patient records to credentialing and payor(s) enrollment. 24 hours a day is not enough to complete all those tasks, let alone analyze and optimize their growth and expansion processes.
Busting the myth: you don’t have to sell your practice
Mergers and consolidation may allow small independent practices to capitalize on existent technologies and processes and tentatively bypass the administrative burden, but it’s not a long-term solution. As a practice grows and scales, processes also complicate accordingly. It’s only a matter of time before the same problem arises.
To compound the challenges, practices that sell to join a more extensive group, such as a hospital system, find differences in fundamental philosophies. Hospitals are led by financial, not clinical people, and soon you will find your practice playing the numbers game instead of the quality game.
If you’re overwhelmed with administrative and technology management, selling your practice is neither the only nor the best option. To win the battle of productivity and efficiency and transitioning to a value-based model, data is your ammunition, and long-term care practices need dedicated technology and services to capture and manage just the right data you need. You need custom strategies and solutions that fractioned health organizations cannot provide.
Such soltions come from PALTC partners that values your contribution as a small, independent practice and understands both your complex workflow and your specific needs. Enter: Saisystems Health.
Saisystems Health is a privately held company built specifically to provide services and solutions for long-term care practices. Saisystems Health is the antithesis of everything that makes big corporation unfit for small practices: lack of dedication, devotion and attention. The all-inclusive organization provides a full line of products and services specifically for long-term care practices.
Choose the level of support you need from our managed service experts and let us take care of your administrative tasks. From credentialling to payor enrollment and revenue cycle management, our team of experts make sure we tailor our service to your practice, not the other way around.
Coupled with our complete technology platform for long-term care, TheSNFist™ suite, we ensure you can access the data you need not just to maintain your autonomy but to scale. Cloud-based communication systems like SNFConnect can help you break down the data silos, streamline your communication and optimize your workflow to scale, while our EHR systems designed specifically for long-term care, PacEHR ™ electronic health record, can significantly improve your efficiency and clinical results.
You don’t have to sell your practice because the administration burden has become overwhelming. Experience the difference with Saisystems Health, your one-stop shop for everything long-term care.
* According to https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/pandemic-strain-on-physician-practices-drives-more-consolidation
** According to https://www.bain.com/insights/m-a-global-healthcare-private-equity-and-ma-report-2021/