On May 28, 2025, healthcare dealmakers and leaders will convene in Columbus, Ohio, for the 5th annual Healthcare Capital Markets & Innovation Summit (HCMIS). The event organizers expect more than 400 attendees, a mix of business owners, executives, private equity firms, venture capital firms and more. Organizers state that the goal of the conference is to help players in the healthcare industry network and get deals done, but also to foster critical innovation.
“Other conferences usually silo the different sides and players of the healthcare industry, but at HCMIS, everyone is in the same room,” said Neil Johnson, Managing Partner at Lawrence, Evans & Co., LLC. His firm is the presenting sponsor for the conference, and he’s been a featured speaker in the past. “When you have payors, providers, advisors, private equity and even venture studios all working out deals and pushing the industry forward, you’ll see a lot of innovation.”
Johnson has 25 years of healthcare investment banking and private equity experience, completing more than $1 billion in transactions of all kinds. At Lawrence, Evans & Co., he’s responsible for deal sourcing, valuations and securing financing.
The HCMIS conference is taking place during a tumultuous period for the healthcare M&A market and overall industry. According to data captured in the LevinPro HC platform, quarter-over-quarter deal volume remained stagnant in the first three months of 2025, underperforming against the expectations held in late 2024. With a new pro-business administration, many analysts and business experts assumed deal volume would accelerate, but that is not the case so far.
“It’s a challenging time for the healthcare industry,” said Johnson. “We know tariffs are causing a lot of issues for medical device manufacturers and possibly pharmaceutical companies on the higher end of the market, but on the middle- and lower-end, there are serious concerns about cuts to Medicaid, especially at the state level. And some other factors, like unfavorable valuations for sellers, have taken a toll on volume and slowed the pace of deals.”
But facing these market challenges and finalizing deals is where conferences like HCMIS come in. According to Johnson, nearly $400 million in deals have been completed at HCMIS, and for anyone looking for more information to navigate changes in the industry, there’s a myriad of panels and presentations. The 2025 agenda is still being ironed out at the time of writing, but in 2024, the agenda focused on private equity investments, AI in healthcare, value-based care and cybersecurity in healthcare, with speakers from companies such as Cleveland Clinic, Cain Brothers and GTCR. We expect to see a return of some of these topics, especially AI, but also new talks focused on trends like Medicare Advantage.
According to Johnson, the host city of the conference, Columbus, tagged as “The Smart Health City” and considered the fastest growing city in the country, is as crucial as the conference itself.
“Columbus has been a real incubator for healthcare innovation and creativity,” he said. “With organizations like Cardinal Health, Quantum Health, Forge Biologics, Drive Capital and LOUD Capital, and the research coming out of The Ohio State University, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Battelle, there is a lot of emerging technologies and medical breakthroughs that could shape the market and care continuum.”
At last year’s HCMIS, Johnson spoke at length about this in his opening remarks, studying the pending acquisition of Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health by Health Assurance Transformation Corporation (HATCo), which is owned by General Catalyst, calling it “the ultimate clash between one of the largest venture funds and one of the state’s largest integrated health care delivery systems.”
On top of the $485 million purchase price, HATCo has committed $350 million in capital funding to invest in emerging technologies and adapt to a value-based care environment.
Columbus-based organizations have also been active in the healthcare M&A market recently, as some of our readers might recall. Last July, OhioHealth acquired Morrow County Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital, and in 2022, it acquired Guernsey Health Systems and Van Wert Health.
Cardinal Health has made some big announcements in the past few months. In November 2024, it bought GI Alliance, a physician-led GI practice with a network of 900 gastroenterologists and 345 locations, for $2.8 billion. On the same day, it also announced it bought Advanced Diabetes Supply Group, a national distributor of specialized diabetes supplies, for $1.1 billion. And before those deals, in September, Cardinal Health acquired another physician group, Integrated Oncology Network LLC, for $1.1 billion.
“We know Ohio is considered a fly-over state, but the amount of activity we see from the companies here in Columbus and the region (including Cleveland and Cincinnati) should be in the same discussion as Boston, Nashville, or some cities in California,” said Johnson. “And attendees are going to see that on full display at HCMIS.”
If you still need to register for HCMIS, you can visit their website here. The LevinPro HC team will also be there and will provide updates and coverage of the conference.
