Sell-Side Advisors for Healthcare Practice Owners
We represent optometry, dental, and medical aesthetics practice owners exclusively — helping you understand your true market value and negotiate the outcome you deserve.
We Are Not a
Listing Broker
Seller-Side Only
We never represent buyers. No conflict of interest. Our only incentive is to maximize your outcome — in price and in deal structure.
Complete Confidentiality
Your practice is never listed publicly. Every buyer signs an NDA before receiving any information. Your staff will not know during the process. We work with some Doctors for 3-4 years without anyone ever knowing.
3–5 Competing Offers
We introduce your practice to every relevant buyer simultaneously — creating genuine competition that prevents any single buyer from dictating terms.
20–60% Above Unsolicited Offers
Our competitive process consistently delivers outcomes far above the first offer a practice owner receives. If you have an offer already, contact us before signing.
We Work on Your Timeline
Some clients close within six months. Others work with us for 2–4 years before deciding to transact. No pressure. No upfront fees. No obligation.
Our Reputation Changes How Buyers See You
When Practice Exchange represents a practice, buyers don't treat it as a cold inquiry. Because of the volume and quality of deals we bring to market, buyers view our clients as vetted, serious, qualified sellers — worth investing significant time and capital to pursue. A practice owner going direct simply does not carry that credibility. We do.
Sell Your Optometry Practice
The most competitive transactions in today’s market involve practices with gross revenue of $1.5 million or more and multi-location groups — these practices command the highest multiples and attract the most aggressive buyer competition. If your practice falls into this category, the current market is the strongest it has been.
I love seeing patients. I am exhausted by everything else.
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Don't Accept Until You Know Your True Market Value
When Process
Changes Everything
These are real outcomes from our work — each one the result of running a proper competitive process rather than accepting the first offer received.
This practice owner received direct offers of $6M and $6.5M from the two largest PE optometry groups nationally. We identified a regional buyer who was a better strategic fit — and paid nearly $2M more.
Recent
Closed Deals
Real transactions from our recent work — all anonymized per our confidentiality standards. The range reflects the breadth of our work across practice sizes, geographies, and deal structures.
Landmark Transaction — Largest in Hawaii Optometry History
15× EBITDA — Enterprise Group Transaction
Our Five-Step Process
A structured, confidential approach from first conversation to closing — designed to maximize your outcome at every stage.
Discover
A 60-minute call to understand your goals, practice, and timeline. No pressure. No commitment.
Educate
We walk you through your valuation, the buyer landscape, and deal structures you're likely to encounter. Uniquely, we have a financial analyst on staff who came directly from a PE buyer — giving us an inside perspective on exactly how PE companies evaluate and value practices that no other advisor in this industry can match.
Analyze
We calculate your Adjusted EBITDA, prepare marketing materials, and position your practice compellingly for buyers. Because we understand how PE firms construct their own internal models, we craft your story in a way that speaks directly to how buyers think — not just how sellers present.
Negotiate
We introduce your practice to every relevant buyer, manage offers, and negotiate price and structure on your behalf.
Close
We manage due diligence, defend your EBITDA through Quality of Earnings, and see the transaction through to close.
We Do What
Others Can't
We Open New Markets
PE groups require a revenue threshold to enter a new state. When a single practice doesn't meet that bar, we structure multiple practices as a platform acquisition — and we have successfully opened four new state markets for PE buyers where optometry capital had never previously been deployed.
We Close Negative EBITDA Deals
We have successfully closed transactions for practices with negative EBITDA — something most advisors won't attempt. The key is knowing how to position the patient base, market position, and growth trajectory in a way that makes the deal compelling despite the current P&L.
Regional Buyers Often Win
A Massachusetts practice received offers of $6M and $6.5M from the two largest PE groups in the country. A regional buyer we identified paid $8.25M. The biggest names are not always the best offer — knowing the full landscape is one of the most valuable things we bring to every transaction.
Your Timeline, Not Ours
Some client relationships span three years from first conversation to close. Others close in six months. There is no pressure, no upfront fee, and no obligation. We have worked with doctors who came to us just to understand their options — and years later, when the time was right, we delivered the outcome they had planned for.
What a luxury to have Ryan Kelly and the Practice Exchange team at your side as you navigate the sale of your practice. I met Ryan 3 years ago and when the time came, he delivered exactly what he promised.
Transitioning my private optometric practice was both an emotional and complex process. Ryan Kelly with Practice Exchange guided me through every step with professionalism, patience, and genuine care. His deep knowledge of practice transitions, attention to detail, and ability to communicate clearly made what could have been an overwhelming experience feel manageable and even rewarding. Thanks to Ryan, I was able to move forward with confidence knowing that our patients and legacy were in good hands. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner during such an important chapter.
I’m in the unique position of having worked with Practice Exchange at two pivotal points in my career — first when I purchased my private optometry practice, and years later when it came time to sell it. From start to finish, they’ve been exceptional. Practice Exchange is a family-owned company run by a father and his sons, and the fact that they’ve had the same dedicated team throughout all these years speaks volumes about their values and stability. I worked primarily with Ryan, who was professional, honest, and genuinely invested in helping me achieve the best outcome each time. When we first met, I was transitioning out of a corporate sublease, and Ryan guided me into the perfect private practice fit — one that shaped the next chapter of my professional life. Years later, when I decided to sell, he and his team negotiated a deal that far exceeded my expectations. This group has truly sculpted the trajectory of my career, and I can’t say enough good things about them. If you’re looking to buy or sell a practice, I highly recommend Practice Exchange — their integrity, expertise, and personal touch set them apart.
Frequently Asked
Questions
Everything optometrists ask us before starting a conversation. Every inquiry is strictly confidential.
About Practice Exchange
Who is Practice Exchange and how long have you been doing this?
Practice Exchange is a national sell-side advisory firm founded by Norm Kelly, who began advising on practice transitions in New England over a decade ago. Today, Practice Exchange is led by Ryan Kelly, MBA, and Luke Kelly, who joined the firm directly after graduating college and have spent their entire careers doing one thing: closing deals for practice owners.
We have been in the practice transaction business for ten years. For the first five years, we focused on doctor-to-doctor transactions. Five years ago, we shifted exclusively to private equity transactions. Since then, we have closed at least 40 transactions every year — with volume growing from $98M in 2023 to $114M in 2024 to $128M in 2025.
In recent years, the team has expanded with two key additions: Jeff Connon, who brings nearly 30 years in optometry and dental practice transitions and previously started multiple optometry lending departments for some of the largest banks in the country; and Julian Radice, who brings a uniquely valuable perspective having been on the business development team of one of the largest PE-backed optometry buyers in the industry before joining Practice Exchange.
How is Practice Exchange different from other practice brokers?
- We close more optometry practice transactions than any other advisory firm in the country.
- We have a financial analyst on staff who came directly from a PE buyer — giving us insight into how buyers evaluate practices that no one else in this industry has.
- When we represent a practice, buyers treat it differently. Our volume and track record mean your practice arrives as a vetted, serious opportunity — not a cold inquiry. That distinction changes how aggressively buyers engage and how much capital they are willing to deploy.
- We represent sellers exclusively — never buyers. No conflict of interest.
- We never list your practice publicly. Every buyer signs an NDA first.
- We work with every active buyer — including the Big 4 national PE groups and regional platforms.
- We have opened 4 new state markets for PE buyers through platform deal structuring.
- We close negative EBITDA deals — something most advisors won’t attempt.
- No fee unless we close. No retainers. No consulting fees. Ever.
Do you charge any upfront fees?
How long does it typically take from first conversation to close?
About the Market
Most doctors don't know what their practice is worth — is that true?
In our experience, yes — and it’s one of the most important reasons to have a conversation early. Most optometrists have never sold a practice before. There is no publicly available database of what practices are selling for. The only people who know current market values are the buyers — and the advisors who work with them every day.
We have seen cases where doctors received direct offers that were $1–2 million below what a competitive process ultimately produced. Understanding your practice’s true market value is always the right starting point. The consultation is free and confidential.
Is now a good time to sell my optometry practice?
Valuations remain strong — but there are meaningful reasons why waiting is likely to work against you, not for you.
As the optometry industry consolidates, EBITDA multiples tend to compress over time. The buyers who are paying premium multiples today are doing so because they are still building their platforms. As consolidation matures and more practices are acquired, those same buyers will have less urgency — and less competition from each other — which puts downward pressure on what they’re willing to pay.
At the same time, the cost of running a practice is going up — wages, cost of goods, utilities, equipment. Insurance reimbursements, on the other hand, are not keeping pace. The combination of rising costs and flat reimbursements makes it structurally difficult for practice profitability to improve over time, which means future valuations will likely reflect lower EBITDA even if revenue stays flat.
The honest answer: for most practice owners, selling in the current environment is likely to produce a better outcome than waiting two or three years. We will always give you an honest assessment of your specific situation — but the macro trends favor acting sooner rather than later.
What multiples are optometry practices selling for in 2026?
What is the difference between large national PE groups and regional buyers?
There are four major national PE-backed optometry platforms that operate across the country, plus a growing number of regional and emerging platforms. Understanding the difference matters enormously for sellers.
National platforms have name recognition and significant capital, but they also have internal acquisition criteria, preferred deal structures, and post-sale operating models that may or may not align with what you want. Regional buyers are often earlier in their growth cycle, which means they may be more motivated to close, more flexible on terms, and willing to pay a premium to enter a new market or add a strategic location.
The Massachusetts transaction where we achieved an $8.25M outcome is the clearest example: the two largest national PE groups offered $6M and $6.5M. A regional buyer we identified — who was highly motivated to expand into that market — paid $8.25M. Knowing every buyer in the landscape, not just the obvious ones, is one of the most valuable things we bring to every transaction.
What types of optometry practices are most valuable to private equity buyers?
Multi-location groups with strong revenue and profitability attract the most aggressive buyer competition and typically command the highest multiples. If your practice has three or more locations and gross revenue above $3M, you are in the most competitive segment of the market.
That said, some of the best individual outcomes we have produced involve single-doctor practices with $1.5M or more in gross revenue and well-controlled costs. These practices are compelling for two reasons. First, the purchase price on a highly profitable single-doctor practice can be surprisingly strong — because the EBITDA is clean and buyers don’t have the complexity of multi-doctor compensation structures to navigate. Second, and this is something most doctors never consider before selling — the post-sale income story is exceptional.
When a single-doctor practice is acquired by a PE group, the selling doctor typically stays on under a production-based compensation model. If the practice is generating $1.7M–$1.8M in gross revenue and the doctor is paid at a 15% production rate, they are earning close to $270,000–$300,000 per year — simply by showing up and seeing patients, with zero ownership responsibilities, no administrative burden, and no business risk. For a doctor looking to transition out of ownership while continuing to practice, that combination of a strong purchase price and exceptional ongoing income is one of the best financial outcomes in the profession.
The short answer: the most valuable practices are well-run, profitable, and have controlled costs — regardless of size. If you are unsure where your practice falls, a free valuation conversation is the fastest way to find out.
About the Process
Will my staff find out I'm exploring a sale?
What is your close rate after a Letter of Intent is signed?
I already received an offer. Should I accept it?
We strongly encourage you not to accept without first understanding your full market value. Real examples:
- New Jersey practice: direct offer $2.7M → Practice Exchange process delivered $3.1M
- Massachusetts practice: offers of $6M and $6.5M from the two largest PE groups → we found a regional buyer who paid $8.25M
- Massachusetts practice: initial direct offer $2.7M → our process delivered $3.4M
A second opinion is free. Contact us before you sign anything.
What happens to my patients after I sell?
What states do you work in?
We work with practice owners in all 50 states. Our recent closed transactions span Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and more.
It is worth noting that not every state currently has active PE buyer acquisition activity. However, our experience and buyer relationships allow us to open new markets — we have successfully brought PE capital into four states where it had never previously been deployed in optometry. Some states also command higher multiples and valuations than others due to market dynamics, demographics, and buyer competition. We will give you an honest assessment of your specific market when we speak.
Ready to Find Out What
Your Practice Is Worth?
(800) 786-1389 · info@practice-exchange.com
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Conversation
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All inquiries are strictly private. We will never share your information.
