Hospitals acquired by private equity firms experience a higher patient death rate in emergency departments than other hospitals, according to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Chicago and Harvard Medical School in Boston, examined hospital staffing and patient outcomes after private equity acquisition. Patient outcomes were measured across length of stay in the ICU, ED and ICU mortality, and transfers to other acute care hospitals.
Among 293 hospitals acquired by private equity firms between 2010 and 2017, ED mortality increased by 13.4%, while the rate decreased at hospitals not acquired by private equity, according to the study.
The study, which used Medicare Parts A and C claims and cost data, found that private equity hospitals experienced seven additional deaths per 10,000 ED visits — for the baseline of 52 deaths per 10,000 visits.
Additionally, the ED transfer rate increased 4.2% from the baseline at private equity hospitals. For ICUs, the transfer rate increased 10.2%, while length of stay declined 4.7%.
Compared to similar facilities, private equity hospitals reduced full-time employees by an average of 11.6% and salary expenditures by 16.6%.
For this study, Song and colleagues used 100% Medicare Part A and B claims and Cost Report data from 2009 to 2019, as well as data on private equity acquisitions from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other sources. Acquisitions were eligible if they occurred from 2010 to 2017. Each hospital was followed for up to 3 years before and 3 years after acquisition.
The researchers included 1,007,529 ED visits and 121,080 ICU hospitalizations across 49 private equity hospitals and 6,179,854 ED visits and 760,377 ICU hospitalizations across 293 matched control hospitals.
