NEW CANAAN, Conn., April 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthcare M&A activity virtually flatlined in Q1:26, with 549 publicly announced transactions across 17 sectors, according to data captured in the LevinPro HC platform. Activity in Q1:26 was marginally higher than the 542 deals announced in the fourth quarter of 2025. A year-over-year comparison with Q1:25 is even more negligible, with a decline of less than 1% in volume.

Approximately 70% (386 deals) of all transactions were for companies in the healthcare services sectors, such as Physician Medical Groups (145), Medical Outpatient Buildings (69), Home Health & Hospice (34) and Behavioral Health Care (24). The most active sector within the healthcare technology markets was eHealth, with 63 deals, particularly among companies offering AI-driven services. Activity in the Medical Device sector also increased, jumping to 27 deals in Q1:26, compared with just 17 in Q4:25.

Announced spending in Q1:26 showed much greater variation than in previous quarters. In Q1:26, disclosed deal value reached $73.58 billion, a steep decline from $120.5 billion announced in Q4:25, but an increase from the $60.53 billion spent in Q1:25. There were 13 deals with more than $1 billion in deal value, compared with 18 deals in Q4:25. The largest deal in Q1:26 was Boston Scientific Corp.’s $14.5 billion acquisition of Penumbra, Inc., a medical device company that develops products for complex cardiovascular neurovascular conditions. On the healthcare services side, the largest deal was the $1.1 billion sale of EyeSouth Partners’ retina business to Retina Consultants of America, a physician management services organization.

Private equity activity increased modestly in the first quarter by 12% to 181 deals, bolstered by a jump in investments in life sciences companies (12 deals) and ehealth firms (24 deals), alongside typical favorites such as Physician Medical Groups (72 deals). Overall, private equity and their portfolio companies accounted for 32% of all deal activity in Q1:26, slightly higher than the 29% share captured in Q4:25 but lower than the 34% share in Q1:25.

Health systems were incredibly active in the first quarter, announcing 46 deals, only 13 of them within the Hospital sector itself. As reimbursement trends and patient preferences drive up demand for outpatient services, health systems are increasingly interested in acquiring physician groups (20 deals) and medical outpatient buildings (six deals). The largest deal was Universal Health Services’ (UHS) $835 million acquisition of Talkspace, one of the best-known telebehavioral healthcare companies, which should complement UHS’ vast inpatient behavioral health network.

“Although healthcare deal volume has essentially flatlined these past few years, it’s still historically very high, especially compared with pre-COVID levels,” said Dylan Sammut, Healthcare Editor at Irving Levin Associates, which publishes the data on its LevinPro HC platform. “Investor interest in some verticals is slipping due to tough market conditions, but demand for organizations offering AI-enabled technology or those in the outpatient care space continues to drive activity and will probably do so throughout the year.”

All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A Report, which is part of LevinPro HC, a research intelligence platform published by Irving Levin Associates, LLC. For information or to order the reports, call 800-248-1668. Irving Levin Associates is celebrating more than 70 years of delivering exclusive M&A intelligence to its sophisticated audience of seniors housing and healthcare investors. The company was established in 1948 and has offices in New Canaan, Connecticut and North Bethesda, Maryland. The company publishes research reports and newsletters and maintains databases on the healthcare and senior housing M&A markets.

Dylan Sammut, Editor

Phone: (203) 846-6800

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Source: Levin Associates