A good friend of mine is an emergency room doctor. About ten years ago he told me that his employment situation was going to change. That is because his medical practice group was being bought out by a private equity company.
This was a surprise to me. I just assumed that he was an employee of the hospital that he worked at. It turns out that he and the other ER doctors had a private contract to provide services to the hospital. So they could be bought. After the purchase they all had to continue working for an hourly wage for a certain period of time.
Since then, private equity groups have been not just buying up medical practice groups, but entire hospitals as well. In fact around 500 hospitals are now owned by private equity groups. That is around 1 in 10 of private hospitals in the United States.
When this happens, these facilities are focused on profit for their shareholders above all else. That makes going to one of these facilities more dangerous for their patients in my opinion. There was an article last year about this issue. Here are some horror stories mentioned:
- A 39-year-old woman died after giving birth because a vendor had repossessed equipment needed to stop her internal bleeding.
- Patients died in hallways.
- Patients died waiting in line for service.
- Board meetings centered on profits and cost cutting with little to no discussion on patient experience or quality of care.
- Multiple hospitals closed, greatly limiting health care options in poor and rural communities.
These types of stories are common and probably going to get worse. I am a big believer in universal health care as it is cheaper for consumers, even with tax increases. It also provides a greater opportunity for better health outcomes. Unfortunately that will not happen any time soon.
Sadly, while many of these ventures have been very profitable, it does not appear that the hundreds of millions are going to improve facilities and patient care, but instead to reward shareholders.
As a potential patient, I highly recommend that you determine who actually owns the hospital you are going to and what costs have been cut that can hurt outcomes. The same goes for stand alone urgent cares. Many of those are owned by groups whose primary goal is to make money and not save lives.
And if you have been injured in any medical facility and want a free case review, please call us at 312-346-5320 to speak with an attorney.
