Key Takeaways

• PracticeAmerica has launched a physician-to-physician marketplace intended to help independent practice owners identify potential physician buyers
• Founder Joel Hayden, OD, based the model partly on his experience purchasing an optometry practice through seller financing early in his career

PracticeAmerica has launched a doctor-to-doctor practice transition marketplace aimed at providing independent physicians with an alternative path for selling their practices, according to an announcement from the company.

PracticeAmerica is designed to connect physicians seeking to sell their practices directly with qualified physician buyers. The company describes itself as a transaction facilitator rather than a broker and said it does not involve private equity firms in its transaction model. Under the platform's fee structure, sellers pay a 5% fee when a transaction closes, with no upfront costs. Buyers are not charged a fee, according to the company.

The marketplace was founded by Joel Hayden, OD, a Massachusetts-based optometrist and 1992 graduate of the New England College of Optometry who has more than 30 years of experience in independent practice ownership.

Dr. Hayden said the concept grew partly from his own experience entering private practice. In 1993, shortly after graduating, he purchased an optometry practice through a seller-financed transaction developed by his father, Jack Hayden, after traditional bank financing was unavailable. He went on to spend approximately 30 years as an independent practice owner before selling his practice to a private equity-backed organization in 2023. Those experiences on both the buying and selling sides of practice ownership helped shape the new marketplace, according to Dr. Hayden.

"The deal that launched my career was seller-financed because the banks said no," Hayden said in the announcement. "PracticeAmerica is built on that same idea, that doctors taking care of doctors is the most powerful deal structure in medicine."

PracticeAmerica is targeting solo and small-group practices in optometry and several other health care specialties, including dentistry, primary care, podiatry, dermatology, and chiropractic. The company said the marketplace may be particularly applicable to practices that do not meet the acquisition criteria of private equity groups, as well as larger practices in which associates are interested in purchasing ownership directly.

"There are tens of thousands of independent practices owned by physicians over 55 who have no structured exit plan," Dr. Hayden said. "We built a marketplace specifically for that gap, and we built it doctor to doctor."

The platform provides practice valuation tools and educational materials related to seller financing, along with a promissory note template. It also offers what the company calls a Deal Health Report system, which is intended to help parties monitor a transaction during the repayment period.