Sell a Physical Therapy Practices business

Owner-operator physical therapy practices businesses trade at 1.5x–2.8x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 6x–10x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from PitchBook Healthcare Services 2025 + Bass Berry LMM Healthcare Report. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

US Physical Therapy (NYSE: USPH), Athletico, IRG (backed by Kohlberg & Company), and Confluent Health regularly acquire regional PT operators. Active buyer archetypes in healthcare include Physician-services PE platform, Health system / MSO, Physician successor. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

Multi-clinic PT practices with sports-med and industrial rehab specialization trade at meaningful premium to generalist practices — the specialization + referral-source diversification is what buyers value. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in healthcare are payer mix (commercial vs government) — commercial-weighted practices command premium; provider retention post-close (employment agreements + earn-outs standard); multiple providers/practitioners (not solo-owner-dependent).

Physical therapy has faced meaningful CMS reimbursement pressure and buyers apply cycle-adjustment discounts for any material Medicare / Medicaid concentration. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize payer reimbursement rate compression and physician recruiting difficulty. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for physical therapy practices is $500K–$20M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 621340 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in healthcare. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.