Tag: Vertess

FORT WORTH, Texas - Now is the time for HME providers to start looking at artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve quality of care without increasing costs, says Anna Elliot, a new managing director and partner at Vertess.  Here’s what Elliot, who specializes in high-growth, health care technologies, had to say about how medtech can be used and why you need it.  HME News: How much is machine learning and AI driving the growth in health care right now?  Anna...

WASHINGTON – CMS on Feb. 10 published a change request notifying the DME Medicare Administrative Contractors of the agency’s new national coverage determination for home oxygen therapy.  CMS notes the following changes are effective for claims with dates of service starting Sept. 27, 2021:  expansion of oxygen coverage for acute and chronic conditions;  expansion of coverage for short and long-term need (when hypoxemia exhibited);  the ability of the...

FORT WORTH, Texas – Kim Harrison has joined VERTESS as financial analyst. Harrison, who got her start as an auditor at Ernst & Young, was previously a CFO in the behavioral health industry, controller for a toxicology lab and staff accountant in a professional organization for dentists. “I started my career as an auditor for Ernst & Young, working primarily with venture capital firms, and I have also held roles in the vending, hospitality and advertising industries,” she said. “I...

FORT WORTH, Texas – VERTESS has a new managing director and partner: Anna Elliott, who specializes in high-growth health care technologies like deep tech, artificial intelligence, machine learning and ambient solutions. Previously, she co-founded the boutique merger and acquisition advisory firm M&A Finders based in Pittsburgh. “Although I experienced enormous success with M&A Finders, I realized I could help my clients even further with a deep bench of support,” she said. “It...

FORT WORTH, Texas – VERTESS has announced that J. Blake Peart, a former hospital and ambulatory surgery center CEO, has joined the firm as a managing director. Peart will provide M&A and consulting services primarily to ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices and independent hospitals. “As someone who has walked in their shoes, I have chosen this path to support health care business owners who select the M&A direction,” he said. “I know that every transaction is unique...

YARMOUTH, Maine – The theme for buyers and sellers in 2021 is “respiratory, respiratory, respiratory,” said Don Davis, president of Duckridge Advisors.  Helping to drive that trend: AdaptHealth, which capped off a busy 2020 by announcing in December that it would acquire AeroCare, which specializes in CPAP, nebulizers, oxygen and ventilators, for nearly $2 billion in cash and shares.  “It’s perfect iteming – the demographics are there,...

FORT WORTH, Texas - Despite the challenges of 2020 and the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to bear on the economy, Brad Smith is bullish on the M&A market for HME. Vertess closed on four deals in the second and third quarters, and is teed up for an even busier Q4 and beyond. “The strategic buyers are extremely active,” said Smith, managing director/partner at the firm. “There are also buyers outside the industry that aren't strategic coming in, buying into health care and...

FORTH WORTH, Texas - Vertess has closed on four DME transactions in the second and third quarters, despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.“Even in the face of adversity that is 2020, I am thrilled to have helped deserving owners successfully exit their businesses, while also helping bridge the gap for these health care providers to extend their established platforms,” said Bradley Smith, managing director.The transactions are:Med Inc., a Virginia-based respiratory...

YARMOUTH, Maine - After briefly hitting the pause button in March when “the world turned upside down,” buyers and sellers are back at the table, say M&A analysts.While the HME industry certainly took a few hits, unlike the restaurant and hospitality sectors, for example, it proved much more resilient in the face of a public health emergency, says Pat Clifford, managing director, home medical equipment, for The Braff Group.“DME is part of the solution for COVID,” he said. “Once...

I caught up with Brad Smith, managing director and partner at Vertess, recently and he said the mergers and acquisition market for HME has been “a wild rollercoaster ride” amid the coronavirus pandemic. First, investors and buyers charged ahead, then they paused and then they stopped, he says. But by the end of April, Smith had a handful of deals scheduled to close in May. Investors and buyers were charging ahead again, with the pandemic as “the new normal.” “They like...