2020 was a tumultuous year for healthcare practices best summed up by the CEO of the American Academy of Family Physicians in a dire tweet last spring: “The front lines are crumbling”.

Small healthcare practices and providers, staples of American life, were being squeezed by the COVID-19 pandemic with patients unwilling or unable to make appointments during restrictions and lockdowns.

According to the New York Times, a July survey of 3,500 doctors by the Physicians Foundation found about 8 percent of doctors, an estimated 16,000 practices, reported closing their offices in recent months.

COVID-19 Brings a Wave of Healthcare Ownership Changes

For those that made it to 2021, and the hope brought by vaccine rollouts, many were under new ownership already with the SAMGMA December newsletter showing that nationally “12 percent of healthcare leaders say their practice’s ownership status has changed in the last year.”

In that New York Times article, Dr. Lisa Bielamowicz, co-founder of Gist Healthcare, a consulting firm, predicted another wave of financial stress hitting practices leading to many seeking buyers.

2022 should see a trend of other doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and private equity firms looking to roll up practices for sale into their businesses. 

Importance of an Exit Strategy When Selling Your Practice

Every healthcare business owner knows that there will come a day when they need to sell their practice. Preparing for that day, however, can be complicated. 

While medical providers and practices know they will need a sound exit strategy to successfully retire or move onto their next healthcare venture, their plate is full of the day-to-day running of their business and any blueprints with best practices for selling their business is likely collecting dust in the back of a filing cabinet. 

Every Healthcare or Medical Practice is Unique

At Employer Flexible we like to say that every healthcare or medical practice is unique because every business owner has their own way of organizational structure and internal office practices. 

Even new employees brought into a healthcare practice who try to modernize or streamline certain functions will run into a brick wall, otherwise known as “this may not be the right way to do it, but it’s the way we’ve always done it!” 

Consequently, when it comes time to sell a healthcare business, office practices that may seem sensible and normal to the seller may appear foreign and confusing to the buyer. This is the point in the practice turnover where you can say good-bye to a smooth transition. 

Disorganization, doubt, and nagging questions are not good for either the seller or buyer. 

PEO Services to the Exit Strategy Rescue!

Healthcare providers already know that PEO services can help make their business run smoother, but they may not realize that having a PEO partner onboard can make their exit strategy easier. 

Outsourcing your HR, among other things, can include:

·       Payroll

·       Time and attendance

·       Employee benefits

·       Workers’ compensation

·       Time-off requests

·       Onboarding and employee life cycle (hire to retire)

When a PEO is handling these HR tasks, health care owners are free to concentrate on other aspects of their business, making a transition of ownership stress-free.

HR Functions Ready to Handoff to the Next Owner

Employer Flexible PEO services will organize and manage your HR functions, putting them into “pre-packaged” shape and ready for a handoff to the new owner.

There will be less doubt in the transition with accurate record-keeping and an established track record of predictable costs.

Employer Flexible clients who have successfully exited their businesses said that our PEO services help them accelerate the closing process by up to 45 days.

PEO Services Add Value to Your Business

Brokers generally prefer working with healthcare businesses that use PEO services for several reasons:

·       Less work for current and future owners adds value to business.

·       Lower risk of employee-related liabilities.

·       Availability of accurate and useful third-party documentation on employees.

At Employer Flexible we know that medical professionals can handle their own exit strategies – after all, you made it through medical school and your residency – but it takes so much time and energy from your business, it just does not make sense to do it alone. 

Contact Employer Flexible (employerflexible.com) today at 210.447.6520 to find out how we can help your San Antonio area healthcare business be compliant, well-organized, well-documented, low-risk and high-functioning business to a potential buyer.