Futures

Quality of Care and Patient Outcomes After Private Equity Acquisition of Hospitals, from (20240204.)

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Summary

private equity acquisition of hospitals is associated with a significant increase in hospital-acquired adverse events, including falls and central line–associated bloodstream infections. Despite a lower-risk pool of admitted Medicare beneficiaries, private equity hospitals had a higher rate of adverse events compared to control hospitals. However, in-hospital mortality decreased slightly in private equity hospitals. Shifts in patient mix and increased transfers to other hospitals may explain this decrease. These findings raise concerns about the impact of private equity on the quality of inpatient care.

Keywords

• private equity acquisition
• quality of care
• patient outcomes
• hospital-acquired conditions
• falls
• central line–associated bloodstream infections
• Medicare beneficiaries
• in-hospital mortality
• adverse events
• surgical site infections

Themes

• private equity acquisition of hospitals
• hospital-acquired adverse events
• patient outcomes

Signals

Signal	Change	10y horizon	Driving force
Private equity acquisition	Increase in hospital-acquired events	Poorer quality of inpatient care	Financial motivations
Hospital-acquired adverse events	Increase	Higher rates of falls, infections,	Shift in patient mix and transfers
		surgical site infections
Patient outcomes	Decrease in in-hospital mortality	Lower mortality rates at private equity	Potential lower-risk population admitted
		hospitals
		No differential change in mortality
		30 days after discharge

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