INSIGHTS &
INDUSTRY NEWS

Ten practical lessons from a behavioral health owner who sold their practice: choosing an advisor, confidentiality, preparation, and the process.

What healthcare owners can expect during M&A due diligence: when it starts, what buyers review, the quality of earnings process, and how to keep a deal on track.

What healthcare owners should understand before signing a letter of intent: exclusivity, deal structure, re-trade risk, and certainty to close.

Thinking of selling your home health, hospice, or home care agency in 2026? How the CMS moratorium, 36-month rule, and fraud crackdown affect your sale.

How behavioral health business owners can compare offers from buyers, looking beyond the multiple to the cash, structure, and certainty behind each one.

Not every healthcare transaction calls for the same advisor. Learn the difference between a business broker, M&A advisor, and investment banker before deciding who should represent your business.

Home care agency owners have more access to deal data than ever — published multiples, transaction announcements, AI-generated market summaries. But information isn't leverage. The gap between what a buyer offers when they're alone at the table and what they'll pay under competition isn't small. It's the difference between an adequate outcome and a top-of-market one.

A buyer reached out. They know your market, they move fast, and they mention that going direct saves everyone the hassle of a process. It sounds reasonable. It isn't. In two behavioral health transactions — one that went from $7.5M to $15M, another from $37M to $52M — the seller's preferred buyer paid significantly more simply because they knew others were at the table. Same buyer. Same company. Same diligence. The only difference was competition.

Five critical steps every home care, home health, or hospice owner should take before selling, from exit goals to due diligence prep.

A home care agency was approached directly by a well-capitalized buyer. Their offer was $6 million. The seller engaged us instead of signing. Same buyer. Same company. $2.2 million more at close — a 44% increase — and better terms. That's one deal. In another, seven qualified buyers submitted IOIs ranging from $14.5 million to $25 million. The deal closed at $30 million, all cash. The seller's original estimate of value: $14 million. The spread in both cases didn't come from

The recap of Home-Based Care M&A activity is now available in our M&A Report! Read all about the transactions that marked Q1 2026!

You can have a really nice company that’s not very valuable in the marketplace. That’s not a criticism; it’s just reality. What makes a company great to run and what makes it attractive to a buyer are two different things. Most owners don't realize that the best transactions don't start when you decide to sell—they start years earlier by de-risking the business and understanding how a buyer actually views your cash flow.

Discover the journey behind the sale of For Papa’s Sake Home Care—a story of legacy, family, and commitment to compassionate care.

From emotional readiness to working capital disputes, here are seven common challenges agency owners face when selling a home health or hospice business and how to prepare for each one. Insights from Mertz Taggart’s Capital + Strategy panel.

Home care agency owners can borrow 3 proven exit strategies from private equity firms: early planning, KPI tracking, and a competitive auction process to maximize value.

Learn how to build and capture maximum value when selling your home health, hospice, or home care agency. Cory Mertz shares the valuation equation, margin targets, and the competitive bid process.

Choosing the right M&A advisor is one of the most important decisions when selling your home care agency. Here are six things to evaluate before you sign.

A breakdown of how the latest Medicaid data release has made home care agencies visible to private equity buyers—and why direct outreach often caps valuation.

A practical guide for behavioral health business owners on valuation drivers, buyer expectations, and M&A trends shaping deals in 2026 and beyond.

After years of uncertainty, hospice M&A has reached a clear inflection point. Q4 2025 marked the strongest transaction volume since 2021, driven by premium platform deals that reset valuation benchmarks and restored buyer confidence. As interest rates ease and the valuation gap narrows, private equity is deploying capital more aggressively. According to Cory Mertz, buyers are back—but the bar for clinical integrity and compliance has never been higher.