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Investment Banker·RCM

Joe Schauenberg

Managing Director and Head of Healthcare IT Investment Banking at William Blair

Chicago, Illinois, USA

JS
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Why they matter

He runs William Blair's 25-person healthcare IT banking franchise and has sold or listed marquee RCM assets — Waystar, Knowtion, RevSpring — giving him unmatched sell-side visibility into the space.

Background

Joe Schauenberg is a partner, managing director, and head of healthcare IT investment banking at William Blair in Chicago, where he leads a 25-person team covering provider, payer/employer, and life sciences/pharmacy technology. He joined the firm's investment banking group in 2007 after consulting roles at Arthur Andersen Business Consulting and Ernst & Young Health Sciences Consulting, and holds an MBA from Chicago Booth. He has advised on many of the sector's landmark exits, including several marquee revenue cycle management transactions.

Notable deals

  • 2024
    Advised Knowtion Health and majority owner Sunstone Partners on the sale of the AI-enabled RCM claim-resolution company to Arsenal Capital Partners; William Blair was exclusive financial advisor
  • 2024
    Advised Waystar Holding Corp., a leading healthcare payments and RCM software platform, on its June 2024 IPO (listed among his notable transactions on his William Blair bio)
  • 2024
    Advised RevSpring, a patient engagement and payments company in the RCM ecosystem, on its acquisition by Frazier Healthcare Partners
  • 2023
    Advised NextGen Healthcare on its take-private acquisition by Thoma Bravo

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Partner, MD, and Head of Healthcare IT Investment Banking at William Blair (Chicago); joined the firm in 2007. Leads a 25-person team organized across provider, payer/employer, and life sciences/pharmacy coverage.
  • Prior: Arthur Andersen Business Consulting and EY Health Sciences Consulting; MBA from Chicago Booth.

Current focus

  • Sell-side M&A and IPOs across healthcare IT, with an especially deep RCM franchise: Waystar IPO (2024), Knowtion Health sale to Arsenal (2024), RevSpring sale to Frazier (2024), NextGen Healthcare take-private by Thoma Bravo (2023).

What he cares about

  • "Distribution, distribution, distribution" — go-to-market strength beats superior technology, because healthcare buyers resist rip-and-replace.
  • Revenue growth and upsell into existing customers as the top valuation drivers; every seller now needs a credible AI monetization playbook.

Recent moves

  • Quoted in Mergers & Acquisitions' 2025 healthcare IT outlook ("AI will continue to transition into healthcare. It's only a question of how fast"); featured on THL's Healthcare in Action podcast; sees AI driving cleaner claims and automated denial management in RCM.

Potential sensitivities

  • Active sell-side banker: will guard client confidentiality and live processes, and may steer the conversation toward a mandate. Skeptical of new entrants displacing entrenched RCM incumbents (Waystar, R1, Ensemble, Optum/Change) — expect pushback on disruption theses.

Questions to ask

  • Which RCM sub-segments (denials, coding, patient payments) are seeing multiple expansion versus compression, and why?
  • How are buyers underwriting AI-driven labor-replacement claims in RCM diligence today?
  • Which sponsor-owned RCM assets does he expect to come to market in the next 12-18 months?

Outreach draft

Subject
RCM market perspective — brief call?
Hi Joe, I lead healthcare IT coverage for a private equity deal team currently building conviction around revenue cycle management. Your work on the Waystar IPO and the Knowtion and RevSpring processes puts you closer to RCM price discovery than anyone we could speak with, and your recent comments on AI's pace in healthcare IT closely match what we're seeing in diligence. Would you be open to a 30-minute call in the next couple of weeks? We'd value your read on where RCM valuations and deal flow are heading, and we're keen to build a relationship ahead of future processes. Best regards, [Name]

Linked companies

Sources