Prepare Your Healthcare Practice for Sale
Healthcare practice sale preparation is the work you do before approaching a broker or buyer: clarify your goals, understand defensible value, organize diligence materials, and identify the right path to market. First Move Advisors guides that work through an independent, buyer-side lens, with no listing agreement, exclusivity, or obligation to sell.
If you are still building context, start with our guide to the healthcare practice selling process.
Independent and buyer-side
We are not a broker and not a buyer. Our only job is to help you prepare before you go to market, and our advice is built from years of watching how buyers actually underwrite practices.
Founders, hands on
Co-founders David Thoni and Eric Thomas are directly involved in your engagement, not a team of junior analysts. David brings 25+ years of industry and deal experience; Eric brings the buy-side perspective from reviewing over 200 deals.
Aligned incentives
No listing agreement, no exclusivity, no obligation to sell. Our diagnostic is a fixed fee, so the analysis stays independent of any future sale.
Understand: Start With an Honest Conversation
Before anything else, we talk. Our team will ask about your practice, your goals, and what’s on your mind. We listen first, then give you an honest perspective. If there’s a fit, we’ll outline the next step. If there isn’t, we’ll tell you — and point you toward whoever can help.
The initial consultation is 30 minutes, confidential, and held with both founders. You will leave with a clearer sense of how marketable your practice is today, what a realistic path forward looks like, and whether preparation makes sense now or later. Many owners are years from a transaction when they first reach out, and that is exactly the right time to start.
What we'll cover
Your practice — size, structure, specialty, story. Where you are in your career. Whether you've had conversations with buyers or brokers. What questions are on your mind.
What you'll walk away with
A clear sense of the marketability of your practice, what the market looks like for practices like yours, and what the next step would be if you want to go deeper.
Who you'll talk to
Both of us. David brings 25+ years of industry relationships and deal experience. Eric brings the analytical perspective — how buyers underwrite practices, where they find adjustments, what drives decisions. Together, their buy-side experience gives you both sides.
What this isn't
A sales call. We won't pressure you or ask you to sign anything. Many owners we talk to are years from a transaction. That's perfectly fine — this conversation is for you, on your timeline.
Prepare: Practice Diagnostic & Valuation
A thorough analysis of your practice through the buyer’s lens. The deliverable is yours — no listing agreement, no exclusivity, no obligation. Learn how buyers compare the main medical practice valuation methods.
Dental owners can also review our dental practice sale preparation guide for specialty-specific readiness steps.
Owners in North Texas can also review our Dallas-Fort Worth healthcare practice sale advisory page for local market context.
Why this is a fixed fee
Building a preliminary data room, normalizing multiple years of financials, benchmarking operations, identifying value-creation opportunities — this is substantive analytical work. A fixed fee keeps the analysis independent and gives you certainty on cost. Because the fee does not depend on a sale happening, our findings are not shaped by deal size, speed, or outcome. You know exactly what the work costs up front, and the deliverable belongs to you whether or not you ever go to market.
Financial normalization
Your P&L rebuilt the way a buyer's analyst would — owner comp adjustments, one-time expenses, discretionary spending, revenue run-rate. Your true, defensible EBITDA.
Operational benchmarking
Revenue capture, coding, payor mix, provider utilization, expenses — benchmarked against comparable practices to find where value can be created.
Market positioning
Where your practice sits relative to recent transactions. What buyer types would be interested. What range is realistic.
Preliminary data room
Your key documents organized in the format buyers expect. Ready from day one when the time comes.
Value-creation roadmap
Where you are, where you could be, and the specific steps to close the gap. Actionable, honest, yours to keep.
Navigate: Find the Right Path Forward
When you’re ready, we help you think through who to work with. The right broker, buyer, or partner depends on your practice, your geography, and your goals.
Our role is the step before that decision, and it stays complementary to the professionals you choose. Good brokers are strong partners when you are ready to go to market; our job is to make sure you arrive at that step prepared, with clean financials, an organized data room, and a clear sense of the path that fits your goals.
The right broker for your situation
Brokers vary in specialty, geography, deal size, and approach. We help you understand which type fits your practice and can make introductions when you're ready.
Direct buyer conversations
Some practices are better served going directly to a buyer. If that's the right path, we help you approach prepared.
Your timeline, your pace
Ready now? We move quickly. Want to wait? The diagnostic gives you a plan for the interim. There's no expiration on preparation.
We stay in your corner
Whether you engage a broker, go direct, or wait — we remain a resource. The work doesn't expire, and we're always available.
How the Process Works
From your first conversation to the day you choose a path forward, the process is designed to be straightforward, confidential, and paced by you.
Understand
Start with a free, confidential 30-minute consultation with both founders. No pitch, no pressure. Just an honest look at where your practice stands.
Prepare
Complete the fixed-fee diagnostic. The deliverable is yours, with no strings attached and no obligation to continue.
Interpret
We walk through the findings together and review the value-creation roadmap, so you understand what drives your practice's value and what comes next.
Choose a path
When you're ready, we help you weigh your options: a broker, a direct buyer, or waiting. The pace is yours.
Move forward
We help you make informed introductions and remain available as a preparation resource throughout the process.
Healthcare Practice Sale Preparation FAQs
How far in advance should I prepare to sell my healthcare practice?
Many owners benefit from beginning 12 to 24 months before a potential sale. That creates time to understand value, organize records, address avoidable issues, and choose a path without rushing. Preparation can still help on a shorter timeline.
What should I organize before approaching a broker or buyer?
Start with clear goals, normalized financials, provider and operational information, key contracts, and a preliminary data room. The exact request list varies by practice and buyer, but organized, defensible information helps reduce diligence surprises.
Should I prepare before choosing a healthcare practice broker?
Yes. Preparation helps you understand your marketability, priorities, and likely paths before selecting a broker. It also gives a broker cleaner information to take to market when you are ready.
What is included in First Move’s fixed-fee diagnostic?
The diagnostic includes financial normalization, operational benchmarking, market positioning, a preliminary data room, and a value-creation roadmap. The work is yours, with no listing agreement, exclusivity, or obligation to sell.
Do I need to be ready to sell before talking with First Move?
No. Many owners are years from a transaction. The free initial consultation is a confidential, no-pressure way to understand where you stand and what the next step could be.
What's the difference between an advisor and a broker?
A broker typically markets a practice to buyers and guides the transaction process, often for a success fee at closing. First Move works before that stage: we help you understand value, prepare diligence materials, and choose your path, for a fixed fee and with no listing agreement or obligation to sell.
Is the fixed-fee diagnostic confidential?
Yes. Everything you share during the consultation and the diagnostic is treated confidentially. Nothing is shared with brokers, buyers, or any third party without your direction.