Industry

Healthcare Private Equity

Strategic Guidance for Healthcare Private Equity Investments

Sheppard’s industry-leading healthcare knowledge and private equity experience maximize value through compressed timelines, competitive processes and regulatory challenges.

Private equity clients turn to us to structure complex healthcare transactions that strategically address compliance, risk, and advance long-term growth objectives.

Driving Value Through Compliance and Growth 

Consistently ranked in PitchBook’s League Table Rankings among the most active firms for U.S. deals, global company representation and healthcare sector deals (2022-2024), we represent private equity funds, growth equity investors, venture capital funds, search funds, independent sponsors and other private capital sponsors in healthcare platform acquisitions, add-on transactions, equity investments and exits. 

Our Healthcare Private Equity lawyers blend sector fluency with disciplined execution across healthcare services, healthcare technology and healthcare real estate investments.

We understand how clinical operations, payer mix, physician engagement, reimbursement and multi-state licensing drive performance, and we build those realities into deal strategy from the start. We design transactions to satisfy Stark and Anti‑Kickback requirements, corporate practice of medicine limits, HIPAA, licensure and accreditation, reimbursement rules and Certificate of Need in active jurisdictions. We map CMS and state agency approvals to closing conditions, align documents with compliance and manage investigations, audits and appeals to reduce enforcement risk and protect timelines.

Regulatory integration is core to our model. We guide private equity sponsors through the full transaction lifecycle—from initial platform structuring and investment through add-on acquisitions and portfolio company exits—helping to ensure regulatory compliance protects deal value at every stage. We also represent portfolio companies, working with the sponsor and directly with management to navigate regulatory compliance in day-to-day operations.

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Areas of Focus

Health Plans
Sheppard’s healthcare lawyers deliver comprehensive legal counsel to health plans nationwide, guiding clients through formation, licensing, compliance, strategic growth and transactions. We have completed over 110 health plan transactions in the last decade involving commercial, Medicare, Medicaid and specialty products. Our multidisciplinary team offers agility, speed and innovation in a complex regulatory landscape, empowering health plans to thrive.
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Hospitals and Health Systems
Transforming hospitals and health systems nationwide, our team delivers business-focused counsel across mergers, regulatory challenges, operations and innovation. With proven experience serving independent community hospitals, integrated health systems, academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, specialty hospitals and faith-based providers, we guide clients through every phase of growth—helping them navigate change, deliver quality care and lead in today’s dynamic healthcare environment. 
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Healthcare Technology & Innovation: Digital Health, AI and Telemedicine
We guide healthcare organizations and technology companies through the legal complexities of telemedicine, AI and data-driven care. Our team delivers practical counsel to help companies build, protect and scale technology-enabled solutions, ensuring compliance and confident growth in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape. 
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Physician and Medical Groups
Sheppard empowers medical groups to thrive in a complex healthcare landscape. With decades of experience, we provide practical, responsive counsel on corporate, regulatory, and operational challenges. From structuring compliant models to guiding mergers and growth, our integrated approach helps physician groups navigate change, align with regulations, and achieve business goals—ensuring success in a competitive market.
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Post-Acute Care
Our post-acute care practice has proven expertise across the full continuum of care including skilled nursing, assisted living, senior housing, home health and hospice. We represent REITs, health systems, private equity sponsors and multi-facility operators in complex transactions that require regulatory fluency and real estate precision. Our integrated team closes deals quickly while preserving enterprise value.
Strategic Transactions
We partner with clients to lead and close healthcare transactions with speed, certainty and a comprehensive understanding of all related business and regulatory issues. Named a Top 10 healthcare M&A firm by Healthcare M&A News in 2025, we have completed more than 120 health plan affiliations, 140 hospital M&A and joint ventures, and dozens of private equity transactions in recent years for clients ranging from regional hospitals and plans to the largest health systems and private investors in the nation.

Experience

Representative Matters
  • Led a complex $8.9 billion national healthcare merger, delivering seamless closing through strategic structuring, comprehensive diligence, and antitrust navigation, while supporting a new joint venture to drive integrated care and growth in commercial markets.
  • Counseled a private equity health plan partnership to launch a next‑generation primary care platform, securing approvals under emerging state oversight regimes—illustrating our command of healthcare convergence and novel regulatory frameworks reshaping market dynamics.
  • Advised a global private equity firm on the acquisition and regulatory workstreams for a $1.2 billion hospice platform transaction. Negotiated a favorable resolution of significant Medicare hospice cap liability, including a special indemnity and a multiple-based earn-out adjustment. 
  • Advised a healthcare-focused private equity firm on a majority growth recapitalization that advanced innovation and market expansion in minimally invasive interventional spine care. This investment enabled continued clinical studies, accelerated next-generation product development, and supported U.S. commercial growth for a spine implant used in over 14,000 procedures—reinforced by strong clinical data and robust trial outcomes. 
  • Advised on a landmark private equity exit involving one of the largest gastroenterology management platforms in the Northeast, spanning 40+ locations, 24 ambulatory surgery centers, over 250 providers, and 1,250+ employees. The transaction highlights growing investor demand for scaled, specialty care platforms and demonstrates the complexity and value of building integrated organizations that improve access to high-quality, cost-effective healthcare at scale.
  • Supported a large growth equity fund in the formation and build-out of a national network of community oncology practices from formation through rapid multi‑state expansion and multiple sponsor transitions. We built the corporate and healthcare regulatory foundation, including advising on initial structure, management arrangements, equity commitments, then executed key affiliations and supporting the platform in a multi-disciplinary holistic approach. We also delivered regulatory execution for complex growth, including diligence, licensing, and compliance for the acquisition and integration of numerous significant practices across multiple states, including tuck-in transactions folding several practices into existing affiliate practices, crafting compliant governance and compensation structures within those expanding organizations. As the network expanded into adjacent specialties, we advised on a national urology group acquisition, structured joint venture arrangements to support scale, and providing ongoing regulatory counsel for day‑to‑day operations.