Vaughan Advisors · Operator-Led. Results-Driven.

Build Value.
Exit on Your Terms.

Transforming physician-led healthcare practices into scalable, transferable businesses — maximizing patient outcomes, developing staff for the next owner, and building the defensible enterprise value that attracts the right buyer at the right price.

25+
Years in Eye-Care Operations
EBITDA Growth as Operating CEO
$1B+
Strategic Transaction Value
The Transferability Thesis
"Valuation is determined by one question: how much risk does the buyer believe they are taking? EBITDA gets the headline. Multiple gets the money."
5–7×
Owner-dependent practice
The practice IS the founder
8–11×
Transferable practice
The business runs without you

On a $1M EBITDA practice, that delta is $3–4 million in additional enterprise value. The preparation costs $200–400K. The ROI is 10–20×. That is what the FRSS platform manufactures.

~17,000
Independent eye-care practices not yet PE-affiliated
1–2×
Extra multiple turns buyers now pay for transferable practices
10–20×
ROI on full FRSS advisory engagement
The Challenge

What most founders don't fully see
until it's too late

Most ophthalmology and optometry founders engage an advisor only months before they want to sell — with no preparation in place. A focused 6–12 month FRSS engagement closes that gap. Arrive at the table prepared. By the time an unprepared founder realizes the discount, the offer is already written.

01
EBITDA Understated
Personal expenses on the P&L and undocumented add-backs suppress stated earnings — the single biggest driver of valuation discount.
02
Revenue Leaking
Denial rates, undercoding, and slow A/R aging silently erode millions in annual collections. Most founders never see the full number.
03
Thin Management Bench
PE buyers acquire a business, not a physician. Key-person dependency is discounted into every offer — whether they say it out loud or not.
04
No Process Experience
First-time sellers face QoE audits and LOI negotiations against buyers who do this every day. The asymmetry is severe and predictable.
05
Wrong Timing
The founder who calls a banker with 90 days of notice has already left money on the table. Preparation that takes effect must start early.
The FRSS Platform

Fix. Run. Scale. Sell.

Four phases. One outcome: the freedom to focus on what's next.

A structured 6–12 month operating engagement — not a consulting retainer. We get inside the P&L, fix what's broken, run operations to peak performance, scale for maximum valuation, and position you to sell to the right buyer.

01
FIX
Fix the Base Business
Identify and eliminate value leaks.
  • Revenue cycle audit — billing leakage, undercoding, A/R aging
  • P&L normalization — document add-backs, benchmark staffing
  • EBITDA roadmap — quantify every improvement dollar with targets
  • Operational benchmarking — productivity, overhead, payer mix
02
RUN
Run to Peak Performance
Execute the improvement plan.
  • Implement billing and collections improvements immediately
  • Management bench — recruit the leadership buyers expect
  • KPI dashboards — real-time visibility into what drives the multiple
  • Reduce owner dependency so the business runs without the founder
03
SCALE
Scale for Maximum Value
Season improvements into the financials.
  • Execute growth initiatives — service lines, capture rate, referrals
  • Season results into audited financials for buyer underwriting
  • Data room prep — equity story, financials, and diligence files
  • Defensible EBITDA — durable cash flow that survives buyer QoE
04
SELL
Execute the Exit
Capture the right opportunity.
  • Process management — partner alongside the investment bank
  • Presentation coaching — prepare and rehearse management meetings
  • Term negotiation — advise on LOI structure, reps & warranties
  • To the closing table — every step, start to signature
Lead Product · Entry Point

The Transferability
Index Assessment

Before you commit to a full engagement, we spend 30–45 days doing a deep diagnostic across all eight dimensions of transferability. You get a scored assessment, a dollar-quantified roadmap of addressable improvement, and a clear picture of exactly what a buyer will underwrite — and what they will discount.

Investment
$15,000 flat
Timeline
30–45 days
Payment Terms
50% / 50%
Commitment
None beyond
Start with a Free Discovery Call
The Eight Dimensions We Score
1
Clinical Bench Depth Associate MD/OD coverage, not solo dependency
2
Documented Processes SOPs, training paths, decision trees
3
Diversified Mix Payer, referral, service-line, geography
4
Recurring Revenue Annual exam cycles, optical, ASC utilization
5
Owner Dependency The founder vacation stress test
6
Clean Financials KPI dashboards, RCM remediation, QoE-ready close
7
Sub-Specialty Mix ASC integration, retina, refractive (MD-specific)
8
Optical Capture Managed-vision economics, capture rate (OD-specific)
William Vaughan
Principal, Vaughan Advisors LLC
Years in eye care 25+
Operating profile CEO / Operator
P&L range $100M–$500M+
Transaction value $1B+
Geographic focus National
Book a Discovery Call
The Operator Behind the Platform

We are operators,
not consultants.

I have spent twenty-five years building, running, and exiting healthcare businesses — ophthalmology and optometry are my core, and I also bring deep experience across dental, dermatology, orthopedics, spine, pain management, and multi-specialty platforms. Solo and multi-doctor groups, ASC-anchored operations, optical retail, MSOs and DSOs. Multiple leadership, growth, and exit roles across the career — on both the sell side and the buy side.

"I have been the CEO responsible for EBITDA growth, the operator managing physician partners and billing teams, and the buy-side advisor sitting in PE partnership meetings — at the same time. That combination is rare."

I served as the operating CEO responsible for EBITDA growth on a PE-backed multi-site healthcare platform — delivering 3× EBITDA growth over the engagement. Simultaneously, I was advising leading PE firms on how to evaluate businesses exactly like the ones you have built: their QoE findings, their investment thesis, their management team assessment.

That dual role is what makes this different. I know precisely what MSOs, DSOs, and PE-backed platforms are underwriting before they ever shake your hand. I know what buyers want from acquisitions and integrations — not just the financial synergies, but the operational readiness, the management bench, the clinical quality signal, and the staff stability that determines whether a deal creates or destroys value post-close.

Vaughan Advisors operates the FRSS platform — Fix, Run, Scale, Sell — as a productized operating engagement. Not a monthly advisory retainer. Not a slide deck. We get inside the practice, do the operational work, and season the results into the financials before a buyer ever sees them. And where integration advisory is needed — on either side of a transaction — we bring the same operator lens to making the combined business worth more than the sum of its parts.

Our commitment in every engagement: maximize patient outcomes, develop and prepare staff for the next owner, and build the kind of legacy value that endures past the closing table.

Non-Negotiable

Four operating principles.
Every engagement.

Patient outcomes come first.

Every operational change passes through one filter: does this serve the patient better? A practice that serves patients better is also more defensible, more referable, and more valuable at exit. The two goals are not in tension.

Staff development is part of the work.

The people who built this practice with you deserve continuity, development, and a real future under new ownership. We actively prepare your team — not just your financials — for the transition. A stable, capable staff is a valuation driver and a legacy asset buyers cannot ignore.

No financial engineering.

The EBITDA presented to buyers is the EBITDA actually produced through real operating improvement. We document every add-back honestly. We do not inflate numbers or obscure risk. Buyers underwrite the truth — we make sure the truth looks its best.

Legacy preservation is the point.

The right exit preserves what you built. The wrong exit erodes it. We spend 6–12 months ensuring you have the information, the preparation, and the leverage to get to the right buyer at the right terms — one who will honor your patients, your staff, and the mission you built.

Who We Work With

Built for the healthcare founder
ready to maximize value and sell right.

Primary expertise in ophthalmology and optometry — with deep experience across dental, dermatology, orthopedics, spine, pain management, and other healthcare specialties. We know what MSOs and DSOs want from acquisitions and integrations, and we prepare founders to meet that bar.

Specialty Ophthalmology (MD) and Optometry (OD) — core expertise. Dental, Dermatology, Orthopedics, Spine, Pain Management, and other mid-market healthcare specialties. MSOs and DSOs served.
Founder Goal Build defensible value, maximize valuation, and sell to a buyer who will sustain patient care and legacy
Practice Size $500K–$25M EBITDA · Mid-market healthcare, any revenue scale
Ownership Founder-owned · Not yet PE, hospital, or strategic affiliated
Geography Nationwide · No geographic restrictions — we serve founders wherever they practice
Mindset Committed to value and legacy — maximizing patient outcomes, developing staff for the next owner, and finding a buyer who will carry the mission forward, not just the margin.
Ophthalmology (MD)
Optometry (OD)
Dental / DSO
Dermatology
Orthopedics
Spine
Pain Management
MSO / Platform
Optical
Other Specialties
The Market · June 2026

The window for prepared founders
is the strongest in five years.

~29K
Total US eye-care practices eligible for FRSS preparation
~17K
Founder-owned, not yet PE or hospital affiliated
4,500–6,500
Founder-owned practices with untapped defensible value — the FRSS sweet spot
600–900
Practices likely to transact in the next 12 months

Current market dynamics: PE pulled back through 2025 — eye-care PE-backed deal count fell from 35 in 2023 to 18 in 2024 and was softer still in 2025. Lending tightened, sponsors became more selective. But the same buyers who tightened criteria are now explicitly paying 1–2 extra multiple turns for transferable practices (published industry data). Strategic distributors have moved into the space at the top of the multiple range, particularly in retina. The market for prepared, founder-owned practices is the strongest it has been in five years. The window is open. Preparation takes 18–36 months. The question is where you are in that timeline.

Service Architecture

Six tiers. One trajectory.

Every engagement starts with a free Discovery Call. The Transferability Index Assessment is the entry product. From there, the engagement scales with the practice's needs and timeline.

Tier 0
Discovery Call
60-minute conversation. No pitch. We assess fit, discuss your timeline, and answer your questions about the process.
Free
Tier 1
Transferability Index Assessment
Full diagnostic across all eight dimensions. Scored output with dollar-quantified roadmap. 30–45 days. 50/50 payment terms.
$15,000 flat
Tier 2
Quarterly Advisory
Light-touch monthly advisory for founders not yet ready for a full engagement. 3-month minimum.
$5,000/mo
Tier 3
Full Fix-Run-Scale Engagement
12–36 month operating partnership. Monthly retainer plus setup fee and milestone payments tied to measurable progress.
$6,500–$8,500/mo
Tier 3a
Exit Readiness Fee
Charged at LOI signing. Covers final data room preparation, management presentation coaching, and process management.
$50–75K at LOI
Tier 3b
Performance Fee
Success-based fee tied to transaction close, scaled to value creation. Paid from closing proceeds.
4–9% of value created
Tier 4
Integration Advisory
Post-acquisition integration support for MSOs, DSOs, and PE-backed platforms. Value creation beyond financial synergies — operational alignment, clinical quality, staff development, and culture integration that protects patient outcomes and drives long-term enterprise value.
Custom
Book a Discovery Call

Built together.
Sold to the right buyer.

The Discovery Call is free. Sixty minutes. No pitch deck, no retainer ask. We have a direct conversation about where your practice is, what a transferable exit would look like, and whether the FRSS platform is the right fit.

bill@vaughan-advisors.com  ·  +1.949.500.5115
2001 Ross Avenue, Suite 700 · Dallas, TX 75201 · Serving founders nationally