The physician practice management sector has seen 367 total transactions since January, according to an Oct. 29 article in JDSupra by Nashville, Tenn.-based law firm Bass, Berry & Sims.
Here are eight things to know:
1. About 130 PPM deals were announced in the third quarter alone.
2. Private equity continues to drive the bulk of activity. Through September, PE firms or their portfolio companies announced 507 healthcare transactions, 35% of which were in the PPM space.
3. August brought two major transactions reshaping the market. UnitedHealth’s Optum acquired Holston Medical Group, a 200-provider organization in Kingsport, Tenn. Meanwhile, Cardinal Health subsidiary The Specialty Alliance acquired Solaris Health, one of the nation’s largest urology MSOs, for $1.9 billion.
4. Cardinal Health has been on an acquisition spree, including its purchase of The Specialty Alliance from Bain Capital in January 2024 and a $2.8 billion acquisition of GI Alliance in November 2024.
5. Dental transactions outpaced all other PPM sectors, accounting for nearly 53% of third-quarter activity and about 183 deals as of the end of September.
6. Imagen Dental Partners entered two new states in 2025 — Washington and Kentucky — with acquisitions of Seattle-based Aesthetica Contemporary Dentistry in July and Florence-based Toothologie in August. Imagen now supports over 100 practices across 17 states. In August, Sage Dental also expanded with its acquisition of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based The Dental Group.
7. MB2 Dental Solutions, backed by Charlesbank Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus, partnered with roughly 47 practices through the third quarter of 2025. In September, it celebrated its 800th location with the acquisition of The Smile Lodge in New York City.
8. Health systems also remained aggressive acquirers in Q3. In July, AdventHealth acquired the 90-provider Bond Clinic in Winter Haven, Fla., while HonorHealth announced its acquisition of Phoenix-based Evernorth Care Group and its 18 clinics from Cigna, a deal expected to close in January 2026.
