Private equity acquisition of hospitals is associated with increased hospital-acquired adverse events despite a likely lower-risk pool of admitted Medicare beneficiaries, suggesting poorer quality of inpatient care. In other words, a new study, finds private equity owned hospitals treat healthier patients than other hospitals, but despite easier cases, harm their patients more often.
The study compared hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations at 51 private equity-acquired hospitals to data on millions of hospitalizations across 259 matched control hospitals from 2009 to 2019.
The combination of a 25% higher rate of hospital-acquired adverse events and beneficiaries who tended to be younger and less often dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid led researchers to conclude that the 51 hospitals were delivering “poorer quality of inpatient care” after their acquisitions. “These findings heighten concerns about the implications of private equity on healthcare delivery,” according to the authors.
Studying hospitals up to three years after the hospital’s acquisition, the analysis shows a 27% increase in falls, a 38% increase in central line-associated infections and about twice as many surgical site infections compared to control hospitals.
As Public Citizen has written, Private Equity’s Path of Destruction In Health Care Continues to Spread.
Stem Cells, Health, Technology 