A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that patients treated at hospitals owned by private equity firms were more likely to experience adverse events than those treated at hospitals not owned by private equity firms.
The study analyzed the quality of care and patient outcomes among those treated at private equity-owned hospitals between 2009 and 2019.
Patients treated at private equity-owned hospitals also fell more frequently.
“Surgical site infections doubled from 10.8 to 21.6 per 10,000 hospitalizations at private equity hospitals despite an 8.1% reduction in surgical volume,” the researchers wrote, adding that “such infections decreased” at other hospitals.
“[P]rivate equity acquisition was associated with a 25.4% increase in hospital-acquired conditions, which was driven by falls and central line–associated bloodstream infections,” the study said.
The findings suggest that hospitals acquired by private equity firms have a “poorer quality of inpatient care.”
“The increase in hospital-acquired conditions after private equity acquisition is particularly worrisome given the national decline in hospital-acquired conditions, as demonstrated by the control group,” the study adds. “Taken together, the increased hospital-acquired conditions associated with private equity acquisition spanned the key inpatient settings—from general wards (falls) to intensive care units (central line–associated bloodstream infections), with concern for operating rooms (surgical site infections) as well.”
According to the PESP Private Equity Hospital Tracker, at least 386 hospitals in the United States are owned by private equity firms.
This includes 9% of private hospitals and 30% of for-profit hospitals.
Thirty-four percent of private equity-owned hospitals operate in rural areas.
Texas has the greatest number of private equity-owned hospitals, with 85.
