How do I find a sleep clinic or sleep study business for sale?

Sleep businesses come in a few shapes: a lab with beds where overnight studies are run, a service that sends testing equipment home with patients, and a physician’s practice that includes sleep medicine. Each is described differently on a listing, and each has different people behind it. Decide which shape suits you, then search with that in mind.

Where they come up

Use business-for-sale sites with several phrases: sleep clinic, sleep lab, sleep study and home sleep testing. Also check health-care and diagnostic listings, where a sleep service may sit under a broader heading. Set alerts so you see new listings quickly. Keep checking for new listings.

How physician-owned clinics change hands

A sleep clinic may be built around one or two physicians. A sale may begin as a conversation between colleagues, through a professional association or through a broker who knows the field. Ask whom the broker acts for and what the seller will share once a confidentiality agreement is signed. Who may own a clinic is a question for your lawyer.

First questions for an owner

Ask where referrals come from and how steady those relationships are. Ask how old the equipment is, what scoring software the clinic uses and whether licences are current. Find out which technologists work there, how long they have stayed and whether they plan to remain. Keep the answers in writing so you can compare clinics fairly.

• Referring physicians and how long each has referred.
• Age and ownership of testing equipment.
• Technologists on staff and their tenure.

If you are weighing a start-up as well, see buying an existing sleep clinic versus opening one. For a similar search in another clinic field, finding a speech therapy clinic follows much the same path.