Private Equity Health Care Acquisitions – January 2026

In light of continued investor interest in healthcare and the risks associated with private equity ownership of healthcare companies, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project is tracking private equity-backed healthcare acquisitions. Below is a list of private equity healthcare buyouts, growth investments, and add-on acquisitions completed during January 2026. We will continue to track acquisitions on a monthly basis.

See January 2026 private equity healthcare acquisitions here

In October we tracked 16 buyouts, 75 add-on acquisitions, and 16 growth/expansion investments.

Private equity firms continue buying spree of autism care providers

Private equity firms continued their years-long buying spree of autism service companies in January with at least three acquisitions:

• General Atlantic acquired Phoenix multispecialty autism therapy provider Ally Pediatric Therapy through its ACES ABA platform. Following the acquisition, ACES ended Ally Pediatric Therapy’s multidisciplinary health services, including its in-house speech, occupational therapy and feeding services and transitioned . Following the acquisition, ACES has 92 locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas.
• Aquitaine Capital acquired KidsChoice, an Oklahoma-based provider of autism and pediatric therapy services.
• Renovus Capital Partners’ Behavioral Framework platform acquired Autism ETC. Autism ETC operates five clinics across Tennessee and Arizona.

The deal follows a trend of private equity acquisitions of ABA providers. A study released in January 2026 by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health found that private equity firms have acquired more than 500 autism therapy centers across the U.S. over the past decade.

This follows a 2023 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research which found that:

“Autism services became a ‘hot market’ for PE acquisitions only after widespread health insurance coverage became available by the mid-2010s. This occurred through passage of state health insurance mandates, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate for coverage in its marketplace health plans, and the Medicaid mandate for coverage in 2014 of medically necessary services in behavioral health, including people with autism. Between 2017 and 2022, private equity firms completed 85 percent of all mergers and acquisitions in autism services – a rate not found in any other segment.”[1]

Last year, PESP tracked . Because of private equity’s typical playbook that aims to make outsized profits over short time horizons, private equity investment in autism services has come under scrutiny in recent years. Some families and clinicians believe that investors’ focus on profits has degraded the quality of care at private equity-owned ABA providers.[2]

In addition, private equity’s profit-driven focus could further strain state Medicaid budgets that are facing cutbacks following H.R. 1, the tax and spending law passed by Congress last year. Over the next 10 years, federal spending on Medicaid will decrease by $900 billion.

For example, North Carolina has predicted it will lose $40 billion in funding in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, the cost of ABA therapy to North Carolina’s Medicaid program, where General Atlantic’s ACES ABA and Renovus Capital Partners’ Behavioral Framework operate, has skyrocketed. Payments for ABA therapy in the state, which were $122 million in fiscal year 2022, are projected to hit $639 million in fiscal 2026, a 423% increase.

Despite growing state curbs on the corporate practice of medicine, private equity roll-ups of medical and dental practices continue

In January, private equity firms acquired at least 21 outpatient medical practices in specialties including primary care, cardiology, radiology, pediatric care, eyecare, dermatology, pain management, and ENT (ear, nose, and throat), and 19 dental practices as part of a larger pattern of platform companies owned by private equity firms “rolling up” (acquiring and consolidating) other companies to boost revenues and profits.

For example, Mosaic Health’s Millennium Physician Group acquired eight primary care locations and a team of physicians, advanced practice providers and clinical staff serving approximately 37,000 active patients in Florida’s Brevard and Indian River counties. Mosaic Health is a value-based primary care provider owned by private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Elevance Health, the second-largest health insurer in the US.

Studies have highlighted how medical practice consolidation can lead to higher prices for patients, lower quality of services, and reduced access to care.

As medical and dental practice acquisitions continue, lawmakers in states across the country have sought to limit private equity firms’ influence on medical decisions impacting patients. Last year, California and Oregon enactedlaws to limit private equity influence on healthcare decisions at medical providers

The laws and proposed legislation are the latest in a flurry of state legislative activity aimed at bringing greater oversight and transparency to healthcare mergers and acquisitions, regulating certain private equity business strategies, and updating corporate practice of medicine law. Much of this legislation is in direct response to private equity’s harmful impacts in healthcare systems around the country.

[1] Eileen Appelbaum, Rosemary Batt, Quynh Trang Nguyen, “Pocketing Money Meant for Kids: Private Equity in Autism Services,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 4, 2023. https://cepr.net/publications/pocketing-money-meant-for-kids-private-equity-in-autism-services/

[2] Bannow, Tara. “Parents and Clinicians Say Private Equity’s Profit Fixation Is Short-Changing Kids with Autism.” STAT, August 15, 2022. https://www.statnews.com/2022/08/15/private-equity-autism-aba-therapy