Guide to Selling a Plastic Surgery Practice in New Orleans, LA

Selling your plastic surgery practice is one of the most significant financial and professional decisions you will ever make. For practice owners in New Orleans, the current market presents a unique blend of opportunity and complexity. This guide provides a clear overview of the landscape, the process, and the key factors that drive a successful, high-value practice sale. Proper preparation is the key to transforming a good outcome into a great one.

Market Overview

The New Orleans market for plastic surgery is robust, fueled by a culture that values aesthetics and a growing reputation as a destination for medical tourism. This vibrant environment attracts a diverse group of potential buyers. These range from local surgeons and hospital systems looking to expand their footprint to regional and national private equity groups seeking to enter the thriving Gulf South market. Your practice is not just a local entity. It is a strategic asset in a nationally active M&A landscape. Understanding this broader context is the first step toward positioning your practice to attract premium offers from a variety of well-capitalized buyers.

Key Considerations for Your Practice

Before you ever speak to a buyer, it is important to look at your practice through their eyes. Sophisticated acquirers will scrutinize several core areas to determine its stability, scalability, and ultimate value. Thinking through these points now can dramatically impact your final valuation.

1. Your Role and the Practice27s Reliance on You
   How much of the practice27s success is tied to your personal name and surgical skill? Buyers pay a premium for practices that are not dependent on a single individual. An associate-driven model with diversified revenue streams is seen as less risky and more scalable, commanding a higher valuation multiple.

2. Your Revenue and Service Mix
   A healthy mix of cosmetic (cash-pay) and insurance-based reconstructive procedures demonstrates stability. While cash-pay services offer high margins, a solid insurance-based component provides a predictable revenue floor, which is attractive to financial buyers. They will analyze your payer contracts and the sustainability of your service demand.

3. Your Operational Infrastructure
   Modern, efficient systems are a sign of a well-managed business. Buyers look for clean financials, modern EHR systems, effective digital marketing funnels, and streamlined billing and collections processes. A practice that runs smoothly is one a new owner can grow, not one they have to fix.

Market Activity

While specific details of private practice sales in New Orleans are often confidential, the overarching trend is clear. Like dermatology and other aesthetic-focused specialties, plastic surgery is experiencing significant consolidation. Private equity-backed platforms are actively acquiring practices across the country to build regional and national brands. They are drawn to the demographic tailwinds and the non-reimbursement-based revenue streams of cosmetic surgery. This intense buyer activity creates a competitive environment where well-prepared practices can command premium valuations. The question is not if buyers are interested in a market like New Orleans, but rather which practices are best positioned to capitalize on this interest.

The Sale Process

Selling a practice is not an event. It is a structured process that unfolds over several months. Running a professional process is what creates competitive tension and ensures you see the best possible offers, not just the first one that comes along.

Phase 1: Strategy and Preparation
This is the most important phase. It involves a deep financial analysis to determine your practice’s true earning power (Adjusted EBITDA), preparing a compelling narrative about its growth potential, and organizing all financial and operational documents.

Phase 2: Confidential Marketing
Your advisor will confidentially market the opportunity to a curated list of qualified financial and strategic buyers without your name or location being revealed. This protects your staff, patients, and reputation while generating interest.

Phase 3: Negotiation and Due Diligence
After receiving initial offers, you negotiate the key terms. Once a letter of intent is signed, the buyer begins a formal due diligence process. This is where many deals encounter problems if preparation was inadequate.

Phase 4: Closing and Transition
With due diligence complete, definitive legal agreements are finalized, and the transaction is closed. The process then shifts to executing the pre-planned transition for you, your team, and your patients.

Valuation

Understanding what your practice is worth is the foundation of a successful exit strategy. The valuation of a medical practice is not based on a simple rule of thumb or a percentage of revenue. Instead, sophisticated buyers use a specific formula: Adjusted EBITDA multiplied by a market-based Multiple.

Adjusted EBITDA represents your practice’s true, normalized cash flow. We calculate it by taking your reported profit and adding back owner-specific personal expenses, one-time costs, and any above-market owner compensation. A small adjustment here can have a major impact on your final value, as shown below.

Example Valuation Adjustment

The multiple applied to your Adjusted EBITDA depends on factors like your location, growth rate, provider team, and market position. Telling a compelling story around these factors is how we move your multiple to the higher end of the range.

Post-Sale Considerations

The closing of the deal marks a new beginning, and planning for it is a critical part of the negotiation process. Your goals for life after the sale should shape the deal structure itself.

Your Evolving Role
Do you want to continue practicing clinically for a few more years? Are you interested in a leadership role within the new, larger organization? Or do you want a clean break? Your desired future involvement is a key deal point to be negotiated upfront. Many deals are structured to keep the founding physician involved and incentivized.

Protecting Your Proceeds
The structure of your sale has massive implications for your after-tax proceeds. Decisions about asset sales versus stock sales, or how payments are allocated, must be modeled to optimize your financial outcome. This requires specialized tax and legal expertise working in concert.

Securing Your Legacy
A successful transition ensures your staff is taken care of and that the patient care standards you established are maintained. Partnering with a buyer who shares your cultural and clinical values is key. Furthermore, structures like an equity rollover, where you retain a minority stake in the new company, can offer the potential for a “second bite of the apple” and allow you to share in the future upside you help create.