Jacqueline LaPointe, for RevCycle Intelligence:
As of 2019, private equity entities accounted for 65 percent of physician practice acquisitions, representing the vast majority of physician deals, according to data from the American Hospital Association (AHA). …
Researchers from several universities, including the University of Chicago and Columbia University, found that private equity acquisitions in every studied healthcare setting have increased in prevalence, and those investments were most closely associated with up to a 32 percent increase in costs for payers and patients.
Private equity ownership of medical settings was also associated with mixed to harmful effects on care quality. …
Research has linked price hikes to consolidation in healthcare, and when the topic of healthcare mergers and acquisitions comes up lately, private equity is on the tip of everyone’s tongue.