How we keep your transition confidential

The short answer

How do you keep a transition confidential from your staff, patients, and competitors? Paul Martin, Founder and President of Martin Healthcare Advisors, explains how confidentiality is built into the process. In 27 years, MHA has not had one confidentiality breach.

How it works:

• Confidential from the first conversation, in writing once the engagement letter is signed
• Day-one rules for how and when we contact you, plus a business associate agreement (BAA) for patient information
• All acquirer emails and calls run through MHA
• Be careful with acquirer NDAs in early conversations
• One point of contact on your side, with any trusted employee pledging confidentiality in writing
• Every acquirer signs the same NDA at the same time
• A planned announcement to staff and patients, usually not until closing

Full transcript

Confidentiality is the first thing most owners ask about, and it's built into how we run the process rather than promised at the end. In 27 years, my company has not had one confidentiality breach. Not one. So, let me tell you how we do it.

It starts the very first time you and I talk. Everything is confidential from that conversation forward, and once you sign an engagement letter, that pledge is in writing. On day one, we sit down and we set the rules. Do we call you? Do we text you? Do we email you? When? Where? That goes right into your record, and nobody on my team deviates from it. We also sign a business associate agreement, because we're going to have access to patient information, and we treat that the way you would want it treated.

Here's where a leak actually happens: correspondence through a process. There are hundreds of emails and phone calls and back and forth with acquirers. In our model, all of that runs through us. You jump on the calls you want to be on. We handle the rest.

I'd also tell you to be very careful with preliminary conversations. An acquirer calls, you get talking, and they ask you to sign their NDA. Once you do that, you are on their whiteboard and they will keep calling you. It's a very easy way to end up exposed before you've made a single decision.

On your side, we want one point of contact. Usually, that's you. If there's too much data for one person, we help you bring in a trusted employee, and they pledge confidentiality in writing. On the acquirer side, every company we bring to the table signs the same NDA at the same time. They also know that if they ever breached with one of our clients, they would never see another one of our transactions or clients again. That's real pressure, and it works.

We advise you throughout on who to tell and when. For the large majority of owners, that's not until closing. And when you get there, we plan the announcement to your staff and your patients along with you.

Transcript lightly edited for readability.