Capstone latest Healthcare Staffing Market Update reports that merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the sector increased modestly in 2025, reversing momentum after a significant drop in 2024 deal count. Critical healthcare workforce shortages uplifted end market demand for healthcare staffing companies, positioning sector participants as strong targets for consolidation.
Staffing shortages within the Healthcare industry are expected to persist over the next decade. By 2037, the U.S. healthcare system is forecast to face family medicine physician shortages of ~43,220 doctors, with the registered nurse (RN) gap reaching ~207,980 nurses, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Hospitals have increasingly relied upon outsourced suppliers to fill critical staffing gaps, bolstering end market demand for the Healthcare Staffing market. Per diem and contract work have become essential components of company workforce models and staffing strategies. Labor has continued to capture the largest share of overall healthcare spending, with expectations for future increases expanding the sector’s total addressable market. Despite congressional initiatives to address this care gap through legislation, hospitals and healthcare facilities will likely continue to rely heavily upon third-party staffing agencies to deliver quality patient care, supporting continued consolidation within the Healthcare Staffing market.
Healthcare staffing M&A activity increased 16.7% year-over-year (YOY), posting 28 transactions in 2025. While levels remained below the five-year deal volume average from 2020-2024 (32), positive growth in deal count after a 41.5% YOY drop in 2024 signaled recovery for sector dealmaking. M&A activity was split evenly between strategic and financial buyers. Public strategics transacted on just two deals in 2025, with Cross Country Healthcare (Nasdaq:CCRN) largely sidelined by its ill-fated merger with Aya Healthcare. Public dealmaking is not likely to recover anytime soon, as poor share price performance and muted financial results have forced public players to focus on internal process improvement and debt repayment, thereby constraining funds available to pursue inorganic growth opportunities. Private strategic dealmaking ticked up by one transaction YOY (+9.1%), with the outsized presence of smaller private organizations accounting for the cohort’s dominance of strategic transactions. Private equity (PE) platforms increased significantly to seven deals in 2025 (+133.3% YOY) as strong end market demand, high fragmentation, and synergistic add-on opportunities validated sector investment theses. Add-ons dropped by two deals (-22.2% YOY) amid considerable competition from private strategics. Sustained M&A appetite for the Allied Health segment aligned dealmaking with hospital staffing demands for long-term temporary and permanent workforce placement across the continuum of care.
Public companies in Capstone’s Healthcare Staffing Index underperformed wider Equity markets in 2025. High fragmentation in the overall sector—largely consisting of smaller, privately owned companies—and slow but steady consolidation of the Public market have significantly reduced the number of publicly traded companies operating in the space to just AMN Healthcare Services (NYSE:AMN) and Cross Country Healthcare. The failed $558.8 million merger between Cross Country and Aya Healthcare—combined with poor financial results—significantly impacted share performance for the former, weighing down Public market performance.
Of note, in October 2025 Capstone Partners advised Keystone Perfusion Services—a leading provider of outsourced cardiac perfusion, organ recovery, normothermic regional perfusion (NRP), and related cardiovascular solutions including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and autotransfusion services to hospitals, transplant centers, and organ procurement organizations (OPOs)—on its acquisition by Strata Critical Medical (Nasdaq:SRTA), formerly known as Blade Air Mobility (Nasdaq:BLDE). Terms of the deal are confidential.
Also included in this report:
Analysis of recent sector valuation trends and the underlying factors driving premium deal multiples.
An overview of Capstone’s recent activity within the sector.
A breakdown of which segments of the Healthcare Staffing market were targeted by buyers in 2025.
Identification of active sector acquirers and the target characteristics they focused on.
Capstone Partners’ Healthcare Investment Banking Team provides M&A, capital formation, and financial advisory services to the owners of middle market businesses in the healthcare industries. Our team partners with leading mid-to-large sized Healthcare Staffing businesses that serve growing end-markets. For more information on the Healthcare Staffing market trends featured in this report or to speak with one of our Healthcare Investment Banking Team members about how to grow, value, and/or sell your company, contact us today to start a conversation.
