Private equity purchases of hospitals increase risks for patients

Hospital ownership should not affect a patient’s potential outcomes after admission. However, a study of 51 hospitals’ data shows that private equity investment has been associated with a significant increase in adverse events among Medicare patients during treatment at those facilities.

According to research by Dr. Zirui Song from Harvard and Joseph Dov Bruch from the University of Chicago, hospitals owned by private equity firms between 2009 and 2019 experienced the following outcomes:

• a 25% increase in surgical infections and bed sores;
• 38% more central line infections;
• and a 27% increase in patient falls.

Dr. Song and Dr. Bruch examined data on Medicare patients, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services track key preventable adverse events. An overabundance of these outcomes could result in the hospital being fined by the government. 

Staffing cuts and other changes that impacted hospital quality have led to increases in these adverse events at the same time as industry-wide declines in preventable cases, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more commonly known as JAMA.

Our medical malpractice team is very familiar with the relationship between quality of care and patient outcomes. We have represented hundreds of clients in medical malpractice and negligence cases, achieving results totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, at the end of 2023, Founding Partner Stephan D. Blandin and his team won a $40 million verdict against a local hospital for a birth injury that created life-long complications for our client.

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