出售企业和放弃自主权对企业主来说是一个艰难的决定, 而且大多数人相信,他们所持股份的收购价会很高. However, 如果前所有者在交易后将从企业获得补偿,那么预先支付高额收购价可能是不可能的, resulting in the business not generating any positive cash flow.
In the healthcare industry, this scenario most commonly occurs when health systems acquire medical groups. Once the transaction is complete, the health system often transitions the group’s physicians to its compensation plan, which results in an increase in physician pay and, conversely, a negative cash flow at the practice.
But what about practices that have been around for many years, 在社区中建立良好的声誉,并与患者建立良好的关系? Can they expect to be monetarily compensated for those things?
While no one would argue the value those assets bring to any transaction, from a valuation perspective, paying for goodwill is most often not supportable.
Defining Intangible Assets
To understand the reasoning for this, we must first define some key terms. In general, 无形资产是那些可以记录在公司资产负债表上的非实物资产的项目或概念. From there, 无形资产可以分为两类:可辨认无形资产和商誉.
- Identifiable intangible assets are company assets that, while still not physical assets, can be separately identified and valued, such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, and software. 这些物品可以出售或获得许可,因此可以为企业带来收入.
- For example, 买家可能愿意花钱购买具有强大品牌的企业名称的许可证, such as Mayo Clinic, 因为他们知道他们最有可能从与品牌的联系中产生价值.
- Intangible assets that cannot be separately sold or licensed are considered goodwill and include items such as the company’s reputation, workforce, customer base, etc.
- When a transaction occurs, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), 建立会计和财务报告标准的独立组织, 商誉定义为“代表企业合并中获得的其他资产产生的未来经济利益的资产,这些资产未单独确定和单独确认。.”[1]
- Put simply, 商誉价值是企业扣除有形和可辨认无形资产后剩余的价值.
Valuing Intangible Assets
重申一下,当企业拥有可识别的无形资产时,他们可以赋予这些资产价值. This is most often done via the income approach, 哪项评估了该资产可能产生的未来经济效益. However, to value an asset this way, the business needs to actually have positive future cash flow from the asset.
That can be hard to do when valuing a physician practice. Often physician practices have no cash value beyond the fixed—that is, 有形资产,因为一旦交易后bet8网站备用薪酬的变化被考虑在内,业务将不会产生正的收入流. In addition, 医师执业通常没有比收购他们的公司更强大的品牌,也没有任何可识别的无形资产可供出售.
需要注意的是,成本法是无形资产估值的另一种方法, which would consider the cost to recreate the asset. However, this would call into question why, if the overall business wasn’t generating income, 买方会在没有机会获得推荐的情况下花钱重新创建资产吗. From a Stark law perspective, 如果不考虑转介的可能性,很难证明为亏损资产付费是合理的.
In our experience, bet8网站备用和bet8网站备用实践所有者在实践收购期间希望评估的两种最常见的无形资产是聚集的劳动力和非竞争协议. 以下各节将进一步说明这些资产何时可以估价,何时不能估价.
Assembled Workforce
卖家通常期望根据其员工的价值获得补偿,以弥补招聘和培训这些员工所花费的时间和精力. However, according to the FASB, workforce is not considered a separately identifiable intangible asset; instead, it falls under the category of goodwill. 为了评估商誉,企业必须证明有正的收入流.
如果一个企业在考虑所有交易后费用后没有产生任何收入, including physician compensation, the workforce should not be valued. 毕竟,劳动力可能明天就离开,不能像固定资产那样单独出售. 如果没有正的企业价值,则采用收益法或市场法, then there is likely no goodwill value.
However, there may be some instances where it makes sense to value the workforce. Each analysis is highly dependent on the specific facts and circumstances at hand. For example, 如果bet8网站备用在收购后仍保留部分执业所有权,只通过分配获得补偿, there could be a significant income stream to value. In this case, 买方应确保所有权百分比和预期分配与市场一致,否则bet8网站备用可能不会像以往那样富有成效.
Noncompete Agreements
组织也经常想知道是否有可能将竞业禁止协议作为无形资产的一部分进行评估. The noncompete would be valued using the income approach, 哪一种情况需要在竞业禁止生效与不生效的情况下估算未来现金流量. 如果业务不能产生正收入,竞业禁止协议就没有价值. Moreover, 一些竞业禁止条款是非常严格的,或者发生在不能强制执行的州, essentially rendering them valueless.
However, if any of the below factors are true, an organization might be able to ascribe value to a noncompete.
- 如果可以证明该组织从竞业禁止中获得经济利益,则新雇主向持有竞业禁止的组织支付费用,以释放受影响的员工.
- 以现金交换竞业禁止协议的双方之间不存在推荐关系.
- The noncompete is enforceable.
Finally, bet8网站备用经常想知道,他们是否可以为在雇佣协议中签署竞业禁止协议的bet8网站备用支付报酬. The short answer is no; however, the system could include a sign-on bonus instead, as long as it ensures the total compensation is consistent with fair market value.
The Golden Rule
Transactions in the healthcare space are complicated, and there can sometimes be misconceptions about which assets hold value. As discussed, more often than not, 如果没有收益法的价值,就不能从估值角度支持支付商誉. However, there are instances when intangible assets and goodwill might have value; but the buyer should ensure there is an approach that can support the value before promising to pay for any of the seller’s nonphysical assets.
Transactions in the healthcare space are complicated, and there can sometimes be misconceptions about which assets hold value.
ECG’s Valuation team can guide you through the process.
Learn MoreEdited by: Emily Johnson
This article was originally published by the American Association of Provider Compensation Professionals in the AAPCP Bulletin.
Footnotes
- 1.
Published June 7, 2023