Nearly 90 percent of healthcare service leaders polled said they were anticipating mergers and acquisitions within the next year, according to the results of a GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services survey of 223 senior level executives in healthcare services. This is to allow businesses to grow during a tough economy, Darren Alcus, CEO of GE Capital, HSF, said in a release.
“Our attendees were eager to come together and discuss the evolving landscape of the healthcare services sector, and understand how other senior leaders view the future of the industry,” Alcus said in the release. “As the survey points out, the trend of integration and consolidation is continuing across healthcare services. Companies are seeking ways to grow in a challenging environment. Decreased utilization, reimbursement rates under constant pressure and increased regulatory scrutiny have made it difficult to grow organically, so we’re continuing to see companies turn to M&A.”
More than a third cited the American economy and budget pressures as their companies’ major near-future challenge, while a little less than a third said the ACA and its implementation was the main challenge on the horizon.
Yet, 55 percent said they plan to increase their staffs by the end of 2013, and 72 percent said they expect their business’ performance to improve in the next 12 months.
