Practice Area
Behavioral Health & Healthcare M&A
You built a treatment company, a practice, or a provider group, and now there's a buyer at the table. A private equity platform, maybe a strategic. They've done dozens of these. You're doing one. The documents assume you already know how these deals usually go, and the terms that decide what you walk away with are rarely the ones anyone flags for you.
Why sector experience matters
Behavioral health and healthcare deals need a corporate and M&A lawyer who already knows the terrain: the regulatory overlay, the licensing and payor questions that stall a close, the diligence requests that look routine and aren't, and the places these deals reliably get stuck. A lawyer learning that on your deal is learning it on your timeline.
How it works
I represent owners selling behavioral health and healthcare businesses, asset and equity deals both: structuring the transaction, papering it, running diligence, and holding the line on the terms that determine your actual proceeds. This is the sector where much of my deal experience sits, so you're not paying me to learn how these companies work.
What’s included
- Sell-side representation from letter of intent through closing
- Asset and equity structures, including rollover equity and earnouts
- Purchase agreements and the ancillary documents around them
- Coordinating diligence, including the payor, licensure, and credentialing records buyers ask for
- Working alongside your regulatory counsel and accountants
Who it’s for
Owners of substance use treatment programs, mental health and psychiatric practices, ABA and autism services providers, IDD providers, management services organizations, and home health companies approaching a sale.
What it costs
A price per deliverable, scoped and quoted up front after an initial conversation that doesn't cost you anything. No hourly billing, no surprise invoice.
Common questions
Questions clients ask
- Do you represent buyers or sellers in behavioral health deals?
- Primarily sellers. Most of my behavioral health M&A work has been sell-side, representing owners of treatment companies, practices, and provider groups through an exit, in both asset and equity deals. That's the side I know best, and the side where an owner is usually most outmatched: the buyer has done this many times and you're doing it once.
- What makes a behavioral health deal different from any other sale?
- More moving parts that can delay or kill a close. Licenses and accreditations don't always travel with a change of ownership. Payor contracts and credentialing have to be re-papered, on a timeline that isn't yours to control. Provider and clinician agreements get read closely, because they're most of what the buyer is actually purchasing. A diligence list looks like any other deal's until you're three weeks in and half of it depends on a regulator or a payor moving at their own pace. Knowing where those pressure points sit ahead of time is most of what keeps a deal on schedule.
- What kinds of behavioral health companies have you worked with?
- Substance use treatment programs, mental health and psychiatric practices, ABA and autism services providers, IDD providers, management services organizations, and home health companies. The licensure and payor profiles differ, but the deal mechanics rhyme.
- When should I bring you in if I'm thinking about selling?
- Earlier than most people expect. A year or two ahead if you can, and before you sign a term sheet, a letter of intent, or an engagement letter with an investment banker. Those documents quietly lock in terms that are hard to undo, and in behavioral health they often lock in assumptions about your licenses, payor contracts, and provider agreements that turn into problems at diligence.
Get in touch
Need help with behavioral health and healthcare M&A?
Tell me what you're working on. The initial conversation is on the house, and you'll know the price before any work begins.
This page provides a general overview of behavioral health and healthcare M&A matters and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different. Contact us to discuss the specifics of your matter.