HOME CARE
Home care business for sale: what buyers actually look for
Buyers searching for a home care business for sale want predictable authorized hours, a diversified payer and referral base, a caregiver workforce that can grow, a clean compliance record, and an agency that runs without the owner every day. The more of these you can show with data, the more buyers compete and the better the terms.
37%
2025 home health and hospice deals involving PE
+9.6%
Growth in US healthcare services deals in 2025
37%
Home health and hospice deals with PE buyers in 2025
Who is buying home care businesses
Home based care was one of the more active healthcare services segments in 2025. LevinPro HC counted 110 announced home health and hospice deals for the year, with private equity involved in 37% of them. Strategic operators and regional platforms also acquire agencies to enter new states or add density.
What makes an agency attractive
The same few factors show up in almost every buyer's screening criteria.
- Stable hours
- Weekly billable hours that are steady or growing, with low client churn.
- Payer diversity
- No single payer, MCO, or referral source dominating revenue.
- Workforce
- Healthy fill rate and caregiver retention, with a working recruitment engine.
- Compliance
- Clean surveys, documented EVV and visit verification, no open investigations.
- Management depth
- An office manager or director of operations who can run day to day.
What lowers interest or price
Heavy owner dependence, one dominant referral source, unresolved wage and hour exposure, poor caregiver documentation, and financials that do not reconcile to tax returns all reduce the number of buyers willing to engage, or push value into earnouts and escrows.
Listing publicly versus private introductions
Public listings on business for sale marketplaces reach many individual buyers but also expose your agency to competitors, staff, and referral sources. Private introductions to screened institutional buyers limit who knows, at the cost of a smaller but more qualified pool.
Buyer scorecard: how acquirers screen an agency
A simplified view of how buyers tend to read common agency profiles. It is illustrative, not a scoring model any specific buyer uses.
| Factor | Reads as strong | Reads as a risk |
|---|---|---|
| Referral sources | No source above about a quarter of volume | One hospital or MCO drives most clients |
| Caregivers | Stable fill rate, low overtime | Frequent missed shifts, high turnover |
| Owner role | Managers run daily operations | Owner schedules, bills, and recruits |
| Financials | Accrual, reconciled, monthly | Cash basis, mixed with personal costs |
| Compliance | Clean surveys, EVV in place | Open plans of correction or wage claims |
How Lartico fits in
Instead of listing your agency publicly, Lartico introduces you privately to institutional buyers whose criteria match your state, size, and payer mix. The buyer pays our fee.
Sources and methodology
Public transactions provide market context, not a valuation quote for a private practice. Illustrative examples use hypothetical assumptions and are not predictions. This guide is educational and is not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice.
- 1. Most Active Buyers in the Home Health and Hospice Sector (LevinPro HC). Private equity share of announced 2025 home health and hospice deals.
Reviewed September 2026
Questions owners ask
Straight answers, before you commit to anything.
Where do I list a home care business for sale?+
You can use online marketplaces or a broker, but many agencies with steady earnings sell privately through introductions to institutional buyers, which avoids a public listing.
What size agency do institutional buyers want?+
Criteria vary. Many private equity platforms look for agencies with meaningful and consistent EBITDA, while strategic operators may buy smaller agencies that fit a local market.
Do buyers prefer private pay or Medicaid agencies?+
Both have active buyers. Private pay often carries higher margins, while Medicaid waiver agencies offer scale and steady authorizations. Buyers price each payer's risk differently.
Is home care M&A still active in 2026?+
Announced home health and hospice deal volume reached 110 in 2025 according to LevinPro HC, and sponsor backed platforms remained active buyers.
Keep reading
Who buys agencies
The buyers acquiring home care and behavioral health practices in the US: private equity platforms, strategics, family offices, and local operators, and how each one differs.
How to sell a home care agency
How to sell a home care agency in 8 steps: financial cleanup, adjusted EBITDA, buyer outreach, LOI, diligence, licensing and change of ownership, and closing.
Home care valuation
How home care and home health agencies are valued: adjusted EBITDA, general market multiple ranges, and the factors that move your number up or down.
Confidential inquiry
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