Healthcare merger and acquisition spending fell near 40 percent in 2012, compared with 2011. Deals totaled $143.3 billion, according to Irvin Levin Associates. The total was ninth lowest in the past 10 years, eclipsing only 2003.
There were exceptions. Home health and hospice had a 20 percent gain in deal volume and the dollar volume grew more than 18-fold to $5.7 billion. Physician medical group acquisition volume dropped by more than a third, however the dollar volume grew eight-fold.
