Hospitals Owned by Private Equity Firms Riskier for Patients, Study Says
A study revealed that, in private equity firm-purchased hospitals, there was a 25% increase in patient complications. CNN, Dec. 27, 2023. KKTV.com
(CNN) - Health care is more hazardous for patients at hospitals purchased by private equity firms, financing models designed to make money for investors.
That conclusion comes from a new study published Tuesday in the journal Jama. The study looked at the rates of 10 serious adverse events associated with medical care at 51 hospitals, before and after they were purchased by private equity firms. Researchers then compared those results with the rates of the same complications at more than 250 hospitals that were not owned by those entities.
The study revealed that, in those private equity firm-purchased hospitals, there was a 25% increase in patient complications. The rates of patient falls inside the facility, central line infections and surgical site infections all increased.
The study author said treating fewer patients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid benefits is one trend the research found.
Previous research has shown cuts to staffing and replacing more highly paid workers with those paid less Is often tied to private equity firm acquisitions. Those firms have been acquiring large chunks of the U.S. health care delivery system in recent years, including hospitals, nursing homes, behavioral health systems and private physician practices.
Earlier this month, the Senate Budget Committee announced its bipartisan investigation of the impact of private equity purchases on health care facilities. --
https://www.kktv.com/2023/12/27/hospitals-owned-by-private-equity-firms-riskier-patients-study-says/
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- NYT, Serious Medical Errors Rose After Private Equity Firms Bought Hospitals, Dec. 26, 2023. - A new study shows an increase in the rate of inpatient complications, including infections and falls, though patients were no more likely to die.
The rate of serious medical complications increased in hospitals after they were purchased by private equity investment firms, according to a major study of the effects of such acquisitions on patient care in recent years.
The study, published in JAMA on Tuesday, found that, in the three years after a private equity fund bought a hospital, adverse events including surgical infections and bed sores rose by 25 percent among Medicare patients when compared with similar hospitals that were not bought by such investors. The researchers reported a nearly 38 percent increase in central line infections, a dangerous kind of infection that medical authorities say should never happen, and a 27 percent increase in falls by patients while staying in the hospital.
“We were not surprised there was a signal,” said Dr. Sneha Kannan, a health care researcher and physician at the division of pulmonary and critical care at Massachusetts General Hospital, who was the paper’s lead author. “I will say we were surprised at how strong it was.”...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/upshot/hospitals-medical-errors.html
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