Urgent Care Valuation Multiples and M&A Trends 2025
- Will Hamilton
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
The U.S. urgent care industry has experienced significant growth over the past decade, driven by increasing patient demand for convenient, cost-effective healthcare solutions. Urgent care centers bridge the gap between primary care and emergency departments, offering walk-in services for non-life-threatening conditions such as minor injuries, infections, and respiratory illnesses. With over 14,000 centers nationwide as of 2023, the market has nearly doubled since 2014. According to one source, the market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% between 2025 and 2034. As regulatory frameworks evolve and reimbursement models shift, urgent care centers remain well-positioned to address gaps in the healthcare system while adapting to emerging challenges.
Key Growth Drivers
Key growth drivers for the industry include the following:
Evolving Consumer Preferences: Patients increasingly demand convenience, transparency, and extended hours, which urgent care centers provide compared to traditional healthcare settings.
Growing Incidence of Chronic Diseases and Aging Population: The rise in chronic diseases and an aging population increases demand for convenient healthcare services offered by urgent care centers.
Cost-Effectiveness: Urgent care centers operate at lower costs than emergency rooms, making them attractive for both patients and insurers seeking affordable non-emergency care.
Rising Demand for Telehealth Services: Telehealth expands access to urgent care services for patients in remote areas, reducing wait times and increasing convenience.
Strategic Collaborations and Partnerships: Partnerships between urgent care centers, hospitals, and retail clinics improve patient flow, reduce ER congestion, and expand service offerings.
Extended Hours and On-Site Diagnostic Capabilities: Additionally, extended hours and on-site diagnostic capabilities, such as X-rays and lab tests, make urgent care centers an attractive alternative to emergency rooms.
Urgent Care M&A Trends
The number of announced urgent care M&A deals declined from the peak of 44 in 2021 to 27 in 2024. However, consolidation remains a defining trend, with private equity firms and healthcare corporations acquiring smaller operators to expand their footprint and improve operational efficiencies. For example, companies like HCA and NextCare have pursued strategic acquisitions to strengthen their market presence.
The market for urgent care centers ranges from individual entrepreneurs to hospitals to private equity-backed platform companies. The following table presents private equity platform investments in the industry since the beginning of 2021.
Urgent Care EBITDA Multiples
The EBITDA multiples for urgent care centers can vary significantly based on factors such as the center's size, revenue, profitability, and market conditions. Generally, larger and more profitable centers command higher multiples.
Single Centers or Small Portfolios (typically revenue under $10M):
These companies usually sell for lower multiples, ranging from 3x to 7x EBITDA. The lower multiple is often due to higher operational risk, lower revenue diversification, and limited geographic reach, as well as a heavy reliance on the owner / operator, which can lead to employer contract retention and business continuity concerns. Volumes for a single urgent care center can decline significantly if a new competitor opens nearby, and there are relatively low barriers to entry.
Regional Multi-Location Operators (revenue $10-50M):
Larger, more established companies with proven profitability, a broader customer base, and possibly a unique niche, may command higher multiples. These can range from 6x to 11x EBITDA, depending on size, local market conditions, service mix, growth rate, and the stability of the cash flow.
Large Platforms, Value-Based Care Focused, and Tech-Driven Providers:
Companies offering cutting-edge technologies, like proprietary testing capabilities, wearable monitoring devices, or scalable virtual care platforms, with strong, continuing management teams can command multiples in the 10x to 15x EBITDA range, especially if they have demonstrated the ability to grow quickly with favorable unit economics. While publicly-disclosed financial information is sparse for this portion of the market, our database includes a many precedent transactions, including several recent deals with reported EBITDA multiples up to 16.7x.
Multiples for Single Location Urgent Care Clinics
According to our research, small single- location urgent care centers are listed for sale for between 0.7x and 1.3x revenue at the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively, and between 3.3x and 5x owner cash flow. Occasionally reported owner cash flow includes owner compensation, which can significantly reduce the multiple if the owner is actively involved in operating the business (or even providing patient care).
Impact of Size on Urgent Care EBITDA Multiples
To better illustrate the impact of size on urgent care valuations, we combined our active listings research with urgent care deal from the Scope Research Healthcare M&A Valuation Database and compared the size of the acquired company in terms of EBITDA to the implied multiple from the transaction.
Active Urgent Care Clinic Listings
The following is a summary of a few actively listed urgent care deals from our active listings database:
(links will break over time)
Non-Emergency Urgent Care in Indiana: Listed for sale at $4.95m, this single location center focuses on the corporate marketed and is owned by an absentee owner living outside the United States. It is marketed based on estimated revenue and EBITDA of $2.2m and $1.1m, respectively, implying multiples of 2.3x revenue and 4.6x EBITDA.
Multi-Location Urgent Care in LA: Listed for sale at $4.15m, this multi-location organization founded by ER doctors is marketed based on estimated revenue and adjusted EBITDA of $4.2m and $1.2m, respectively, implying multiples of 1.0x revenue and 3.5x EBITDA.
Single Location Urgent Care in Tucson, Arizona: Listed for sale at $1.8m, this single location center is marketed based on estimated revenue of $1.6m, implying a multiple of 1.1x revenue.
Single Location Urgent Care in Oklahoma: Listed for sale at $769,000, this single location center with a retiring owner is marketed based on estimated revenue and owner cash flow of $1.4m and $257,000, respectively, implying multiples of 0.55x revenue and 3x cash flow.
Factors Impacting the EBITDA Multiple for Urgent Care Providers
Acquisition multiples are a function of perceived risk and growth. Key considerations within the healthcare staffing industry include the following:
Revenue Scale & Growth Rate – Firms with larger revenue bases and strong year-over-year growth attract higher multiples due to their stability and scalability.
Scale and Number of Locations: Multi-location operators with regional density and strong brand presence often achieve higher multiples due to economies of scale and reduced operational risk.
Payer Mix and Contracting: Centers with favorable contracts with major commercial payers and a diversified payer mix are more attractive to buyers, potentially leading to higher valuations.
Operational Efficiency: Efficient staffing models, such as utilizing advanced practice providers (APPs) where appropriate, can improve margins and enhance valuation.
Market Demographics: Centers located in areas with favorable demographics and limited competition may command premium valuations due to growth potential.
Service Diversification: Offering additional services like occupational medicine, telehealth, or diagnostic imaging can diversify revenue streams and increase a center's attractiveness to buyers.
It's important to note that these multiples can vary based on specific circumstances, including the center's growth prospects, client diversification, and prevailing economic conditions. Additionally, larger UCCs with multiple locations and higher patient volumes often attract higher multiples due to economies of scale and reduced risk.
About Scope Research
Scope Research compiles a variety of healthcare M&A databases and provides healthcare valuation services. The Scope Research Healthcare M&A Valuation Database currently has financial details for 144 primary care, urgent care, and occupational medicine deals going back to 2010, 86 of which include reported EBITDA multiples. The data can be purchased individually, while our affordable annual subscriptions provide access to all of our healthcare M&A databases and segments, updated continuously.
Don't hesitate to reach out to Will Hamilton at will@scoperesearch.co with questions about our urgent care valuation services or healthcare M&A databases.