Private equity activity ‘steady’ in 2025, with a dozen-plus deals in diagnostic imaging
Private equity activity held steady in 2025 across healthcare, including about a dozen deals in diagnostic imaging, according to a new analysis.
The Private Equity Stakeholder Project, or PESP, estimates there were approximately 1,029 such transactions across the entire healthcare sector last year. This represents a roughly 2% drop from the 1,049 transactions seen in 2024.
Outpatient services (148), dental care (149) and health IT (151) were among the sectors seeing the highest volume of deals last year, the nonprofit watchdog organization estimates.
“State and federal policymakers should update laws and regulations to increase oversight of healthcare mergers and acquisitions,” PESP charged, highlighting the inherent risks associated with PE ownership, including “stealth consolidation that can lead to higher prices.”
PESP listed 12 such deals taking place across diagnostic imaging in 2025. The organization used PitchBook to identify private equity buyouts, add-on acquisitions and other growth investments in the U.S. In 2025, it also began using LevinPro HC to track deals, verifying the information using press releases and news articles. PESP acknowledged its conclusions are likely underestimates, since some private equity deals go unreported or are otherwise missed by its methodology.
Healthcare stakeholders have criticized private equity’s presence in radiology and other specialties, citing its reliance on sizable debt loads, penchant for price increases, and alleged prioritization of short-term profits over long-term stability. Numerous noteworthy brands have been forced to seek bankruptcy stemming from private equity ownership including Envision Healthcare in radiology services, Toys ‘R’ Us and Sears.
Private equity, meanwhile, has defended its presence in imaging, boasting its broad access to capital, business know-how and ability to scale.
Here's the full list of diagnostic imaging-related deals PESP found for 2025:
1. Metairie, Louisiana-based Capitol Imaging in January announced it had inked a deal to acquire Houston MRI & Diagnostic Imaging and its seven outpatient centers in Texas. The company is backed by Clearview Capital, launching in 2018 with a $550 million committed fund from the Stamford, Connecticut, private equity firm.
2. Capitol Imaging further expanded in June with the acquisition of Outpatient Imaging LLC and its nine centers. The move extended the radiology group’s reach into Georgia and the greater Atlanta area, with Capitol Imaging already serving Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. This second deal did not show up on the Private Equity Stakeholder Project’s 2025 list.
3. Also in January, Boston private equity firm PSG announced it was investing $80 million in radiology vendor Core Sound Imaging. Founded in 2007 and based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Core Sound’s flagship product is the Studycast imaging workflow platform. Physicians and technologists participated in designing the technology, which is billed as “more than a picture archiving and communication system,” providing one interface for multiple steps in the imaging procurement process. Private practices, hospitals and labs use Studycast across 49 U.S. states and seven countries, but PSG (formerly Providence Strategic Growth) said it sees opportunity to scale further.
4. Dallas-based private equity firm Panos Partners in June said it had reached a deal to acquire Desert Imaging. Its platform company Diagnostic Imaging Centers of Texas, or DICOT, added the El Paso, Texas, radiology group for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2002, Desert Imaging employs four physicians and operates five outpatient centers across the Mexico-border city. DICOT at the time of the deal spanned 23 locations in five markets. Panos Partners noted that the acquisition will allow Diagnostic Imaging Centers of Texas to bolster patient access while generating additional revenue.
5. Towson, Maryland-based One Physics, the largest outsourced medical physics services company in North America, announced in June it was acquiring Diagnostic Technology Consultants. Founded in 1986 by board-certified medical physicist Audrey Wegst, DTC is a leading provider of diagnostic medical physics and radiation safety services in Kansas, Missouri and Florida. The move was backed by Blue Sea Capital, with the Palm Beach, Florida, PE firm previously acquiring Apex Physics Partners in 2024 and rebranding it as One Physics.
6. London-based GHO Capital Partners announced in July it had reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in diagnostic skin imaging firm FotoFinder Systems. Founded in 1991 and based in Bavaria, the company is a market leader in analogue and digital dermatoscopes, total body photography systems and diagnostic software, and artificial intelligence. It is focused on skin cancer detection and dermatology, with the move further expanding GHO’s portfolio in the medical technology industry.
7. TPG and Blackstone in October said they had reached a definitive deal to acquire publicly traded imaging vendor Hologic for $18.3 billion. Founded in 1985, the Marlborough, Massachusetts, company is a global leader in women’s health, with a portfolio of products including mammography and DEXA systems and more. In consummating the deal, the two PE firms highlighted Hologic’s “longstanding reputation for groundbreaking and high-quality medical device and diagnostic products.” The transaction is expected to be finalized by April.
8. HCAP Partners inked a key roll-up acquisition in April, buying First Choice Mobile Radiology Services. Around for over 30 years, First Choice provides X-rays, ultrasounds and echocardiograms to senior care facilities in Southern California. HCAP is based in La Jolla and added the imaging services provider to its imaging platform Integrated Diagnostic Services, first launched in March and catering to nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home health providers.
9. HCAP also announced in July it was expanding the IDS platform by acquiring Community of Nevada Diagnostics, a leading mobile imaging outfit. The group provides X-rays, ultrasounds and echocardiograms to skilled nursing, long-term care facilities, home health and hospice agencies across Las Vegas and Reno. HCAP Partners said it continues to seek acquisition targets with between $1,000,000 and $30,000,000 in revenue and strong senior-care relationships.
10. Modular Devices—an Indianapolis-based provider of mobile and modular medical imaging equipment labs and clean-room solutions—in July announced it had inked a deal to acquire Transcend Imaging. Founded in 1987, MD is a portfolio company of O2 Investment Partners, a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, private equity firm. Transcend Imaging, meanwhile, was founded in 2023 and provides mobile MR imaging labs, reaching the agreement amid “substantial growth” for the Cape Coral, Florida, firm.
11. Addison, Texas-based Solis Mammography in October announced it was entering the state of Missouri through acquisition. Backed by Towerbrook Capital, the breast imaging outfit bought the St. Louis Breast Center in the suburb of Ballwin. A group of OB-GYN specialists launched the facility in 2010, and it has since remained one of the only independent imaging centers in the region. Based in New York, Towerbrook bought a majority state in Solis Mammography from fellow PE firm Madison Dearborn Partners in May.
12. Solis further built its portfolio in December by inking a deal to buy the Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center in Tennessee. Founded in 1983 by radiologist Kamilia F. Kozlowski, MD, the facility was the first such center in the region and has grown to become one of the largest comprehensive breast health providers in the U.S., leaders claim.
13. And finally, Austin, Texas, private equity firm Next Coast Legacy last year invested in HerScan, a national breast ultrasound screening company. The two do not appear to have issued an official announcement about the deal, but Pitchbook listed the transaction in its database, labeling it as a growth/expansion move, rather than an add-on. Next Coast highlights the Belleair Bluffs, Florida, firm on its portfolio page, labeling it as a mobile screening outfit that makes testing “easy, affordable and a valuable addition to women’s annual health routine.”
More from PESP
The thirteen acquisitions represent an uptick from the four the Private Equity Stakeholder Project recorded across diagnostic imaging in 2024. These included private equity firms’ adding radiology parts and services provider DirectMed Imaging, teleradiology outfit StatRad, the Breast Center of Acadiana, and diagnostic imaging outfit Coastline Imaging.
The PESP report estimates there were 151 leveraged buyouts, 664 add-on acquisitions, and another 420 growth investments last year. Altogether, these deals span 420 platform companies and 708 investment firms. Globally, PE dealmaking saw a “resurgence” in 2025, according to PESP.
Eight of the imaging-related deals were labeled as add-on transactions. These reflect PE firms’ “continued use of consolidation strategies to expand platform companies.”
“In addition to buyouts, add-on acquisitions and growth investments, private equity firms increasingly relied on joint ventures with nonprofit health systems as a growth strategy, providing access to established brands and geographic markets they might not otherwise readily access,” PESP reported.
Other private equity-backed entities in radiology besides those mentioned in the report include SimonMed Imaging, Premier Radiology Services, Rayus Radiology, MedQuest Associates, Akumin, and Rad Partners.
You can find the full report for free here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.