A new study published in JAMA suggests that US hospitals owned by private equity firms suffer more hospital-based adverse events, including falls, central line blood infections, and surgical-site infections.
More than 200 US hospitals are run by such firms, which critics worry place profits and quick sales to liquidate debt above patient care.
The study compared outcomes among 662,095 hospitalizations at 51 private equity–acquired hospitals and 4,160,720 hospitalizations at 259 matched control hospitals using 100% Medicare Part A claims data. Events were assessed 3 years before to 3 years after private equity acquisition.
They found that Medicare beneficiaries admitted to private equity hospitals experienced a 25.4% increase in hospital-acquired conditions. This increase in hospital-acquired conditions was driven by a 27.3% increase in falls and a 37.7% increase in central line–associated bloodstream infections.
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.
"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 authors said. "Meanwhile, such infections decreased at control hospitals, though statistical precision of the between-group comparison was limited by the smaller sample size of surgical hospitalizations.”
The authors said their findings validate concerns over private equity firms providing substandard patient care.