Finding Value in Imaging Center Valuations

Published by ImagingBiz After unprecedented growth over the past two decades, freestanding imaging providers have found the past few years challenging. Increased regulatory oversight, negative reimbursement changes, tighter access to financing, and general business uncertainty have all taken their toll, and pessimism within the industry runs rampant. In response, some freestanding imaging providers have consolidated, downsized, restructured, or closed—trends that have undoubtedly altered the competitive landscape in many saturated markets. With all of the pessimism in the freestanding imaging market today, it is more important than ever to ensure that your valuation consultant considers all factors, positive and negative, when performing an analysis of fair market value. Most imaging-center transactions must have the support of an independent opinion of fair market value. Understandably, many business-valuation experts who perform imaging-center valuations fail to consider the freestanding imaging industry’s many positive dynamics adequately, and they therefore undervalue the business. With the negative headlines and heightened uncertainty, it is too easy to focus on these concerns at the expense of the more complex (and less obvious) factors that the analysis should also consider. Forced change sometimes results in positive outcomes. Many imaging providers have emerged from this challenging period leaner and more efficient, having adapted well and adopted a survivor’s mentality, rising to overcome the industry’s new obstacles. In valuing an imaging center, it is important to recognize and consider the current environment’s potential benefits and how they affect the center in question. Click to continue to the full article.