Adverse events were higher at US hospitals taken over by private equity firms, study finds

Hospital acquired adverse events such as falls, central line blood infections, and surgical site infections were commoner in US hospitals after private equity firms acquired than in comparable control hospitals, a study has found.Private equity firms have acquired more than 200 acute care hospitals in the US, as well as physician practices, say the authors in JAMA.1 They wrote, “This has garnered scrutiny from policymakers and the public, including the Biden administration and several US Senate and House committees. Central to the concern over such acquisitions are the implications for patients—notably the quality of care—given the incentives of private equity to generate financial returns on investment quickly. Despite this concern, rigorous evidence on the clinical consequences of private equity acquisition remains scant.”Private equity investment has been cited for its role in the widely reported closing in 2019 of Hahnemann Hospital, a 500 bed hospital in Philadelphia that was founded by…
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