Private-equity experts took the stage at the 5th Annual Healthcare Deal Making Summit Thursday afternoon and likely surprised many of the health care veterans in the room with what they had to say.

The message from some of the people who have been driving the mergers and acquisition boom in hospitals and other health care sectors was clear: Private equity can be, and in many cases has been, the primary change agent in the industry.

“We have the ability to apply our broad knowledge of business analytics over the past 25 years to all facets of health care,” said Todd Rudsenske, Cain Brothers managing director.

That sentiment was expressed by the other panelists, a group that included Joseph Ibrahim, principal of The Riverside Company and president of The Healthcare Private Equity Association.

Ibrahim said the same analysis that has been used to evaluate companies in other industries must now be applied to health care — more so now than before. The health reform law has mandated and will mandate numerous quality standards tied to reimbursement rates and providers across the spectrum of health care must step it up.

“Providers will have to find a way to meet the governmental standard, demonstrate high quality care and they’ll need to do it at a lower cost,” Ibrahim said.

A high bar indeed.

For more of our coverage of the Deal Making Summit, click here.