Hospitals will become bigger players in retail healthcare as the urgent care market consolidates, according to Elliott Jeter and Corey Palasota, who are both with VMG Health, a firm devoted to healthcare valuation. During a recent webinar presentation, Changes in Urgent Care Center Valuation: Are You Keeping Pace? they shared other observations about valuing this type of entity:

• The market is becoming more competitive because of low barriers to entry;

• Buyers are interested in “platform” acquisitions (top facilities in an area that has a corporate infrastructure), and multiples are high for these acquisitions;

• Infrastructure and accreditation are important; and

• The typical buyer will be increasingly strategic.

Learn more: For more information about the webinar, click here. This was the first webinar in a series based on the newly published 4th edition of the BVR/AHLA Guide to Healthcare Industry Finance and Valuation. The next installment in the series will be on June 23—Valuation Techniques for a Physician Practice: Getting it Right, with Mark Dietrich, editor of the healthcare guide.