Private Equity Firms and Emergency Patient Deaths: What to Know

Most people don’t give much, if any, thought to who owns a hospital before they check in to receive treatment, undergo surgery or get tests done. Even fewer think about it at all if they go in (or are taken) for an emergency.

If a hospital has been acquired by a private equity firm, however, the chances of some type of negative outcome – perhaps even death – may be higher than in others. These firms typically purchase businesses with the intention of selling them for a profit within a few years. They have invested approximately $1 trillion in health care companies.

Fatality rates in emergency departments

A recent study by researchers at Harvard found that death rates in the emergency departments (EDs) at these hospitals is 13% over comparable hospitals not owned by one of these firms. The study looked at a million ED visits at almost fifty private-equity-owned hospitals between 2009 and 2019.

This study follows on the heels of other studies that have found that the rates of preventable adverse events (including central line infections, falls and bedsores) rose on average by 25% when a private equity firm acquired a hospital.

Staff layoffs and other cost-cutting measures

As with the preventable adverse events, researchers who led the Harvard study of EDs connected the negative outcomes to a lack of staffing caused by layoffs and other staffing-related changes made to increase profits by these private equity firms. The Harvard study found that the number of full-time employees as well as expenses for emergency and intensive care dropped after a hospital was acquired by a private equity firm.

Even for people trying to find out who owns a particular hospital or other medical facility, it’s often not easy to identify those owned by these firms. The important things to remember is that all medical professionals owe their patients a duty of care. 

If you or a loved one has suffered harm or worse that could be the result of negligence or preventable error, it’s worthwhile to determine whether the doctors or others involved, as well as potentially the hospital, can be held liable for medical malpractice.