Reeve Waud has spent nearly three decades crafting a distinctive approach to healthcare investments. The recent MedTec Healthcare acquisition through Waud Capital Partners’ Altocare platform represents the latest chapter in this ongoing strategy.
Founded in Lake Forest, Illinois in 1993, Waud Capital Partners began with modest ambitions. As the firm’s Managing Partner, Mr. Waud has steered its evolution into a significant middle-market private equity player with approximately $4.6 billion in assets under management as of December 2022.
The Chicago-based investor made one of his most consequential moves in 2005 by founding Acadia Healthcare. What started as a small behavioral health platform transformed into an industry giant under his guidance. Through strategic acquisitions and operational improvements, Acadia expanded rapidly, eventually going public in 2011. Today, Acadia operates 260 facilities across 40 states and Puerto Rico, including 52 acute care facilities, 35 specialty treatment facilities, 164 comprehensive treatment centers, and 9 residential treatment centers.This sentiment reflects the market awareness that has characterized Waud’s investment approach throughout his career.
The parallels between Acadia’s development and the emerging Altocare platform demonstrate WCP’s consistent methodology. Both began with a thesis about fragmented healthcare subsectors ripe for consolidation. Both leverage the founder’s penchant for identifying experienced executives to lead growth initiatives.
Steve Jakubcanin’s appointment as Altocare’s Executive Chairman mirrors how Reeve B. Waud paired with industry veterans at Acadia. This executive partnership model has become a trademark of Waud Capital’76s approach, enabling the firm to blend financial resources with operational expertise.
While behavioral health formed the foundation for Acadia, home healthcare services drive the Altocare strategy. Both sectors share similar characteristics: growing demand, fragmented providers, and opportunities for quality improvements through scale and standardization.
The Chairman of Acadia Healthcare has demonstrated remarkable consistency in his investment philosophy over time. Whether building behavioral health facilities with Acadia or home care services with Altocare, the pattern remains identical: identify high-potential healthcare niches, recruit top industry talent, provide growth capital, and execute strategic acquisitions.
Financial indicators suggest the strategy works. Since Waud Capital Partners began investing in healthcare, the firm has achieved substantial returns while building enterprises that address critical needs in the American healthcare system.
With MedTec Healthcare joining Senior Helpers under the Altocare umbrella, industry observers can see the familiar pattern repeating. The combined organization now serves private-pay and Medicaid-supported clients across multiple states, echoing Acadia’s diverse payer mix strategy.
For those tracking Reeve Waud’s long-term vision, the Altocare expansion signals continued commitment to building substantial healthcare platforms. His experience with Acadia provides a roadmap for how Altocare might develop—potentially following a similar trajectory from private equity-backed startup to industry leader over the next decade.
