Health care merger and acquisition activity more than doubled in the second quarter, as the industry continues to go through an aggressive consolidation period.
There were 251 Â mergers and acquisitions announced in the health care sector during the second quarter, worth a total of $61.2 billion, according to Norwalk research firm Irving Levin Associates.
The deal flow represented the most active quarter since the second quarter of 2011 when nearly $75 billion of health care M&A deals were announced.Â
The increase in M&A activity was spread across both the technology and services segments of health care. The $38.1 billion in health care technology transactions represented an 87 percent jump from the first quarter, while the $23.1 billion in health care services acquisitions was almost triple the dollar volume in the first quarter.Â
In the health care services segment, long-term care and hospital acquisitions continue to dominate both the number of transactions and the dollar volume, with physician medical group acquisitions also very active as health care market participants try to get ready for the increase in accountable care organizations.
