Evaluating trends in private equity ownership and impacts on health outcomes, costs, and quality: systematic review (BMJ, 19 July 2023)

Summary

Private equity takeovers of health services worldwide are associated with worse quality of care and higher costs, according to this study from Borsa et al.

In the past decade, private equity firms have increasingly invested in, acquired and consolidated healthcare facilities. Globally, healthcare buyouts have exceeded £157bn since 2021 alone.

Despite much speculation, evidence about the impact of this rapidly growing global trend has been lacking.

Now a systematic review of private equity healthcare service takeovers across eight countries including the US, UK, Sweden and the Netherlands provides it. Private equity (PE) ownership of healthcare services including hospitals and nursing homes is linked to a harmful effect on cost and quality of care, suggests the review published in the BMJ.

The authors of the review, which was led by the University of Chicago, said: “The most unequivocal evidence points to PE being associated with an increase in healthcare costs. Evidence across studies also suggests mixed impacts of PE ownership on healthcare quality, with greater evidence that PE ownership might degrade quality in some capacity rather than improve it.”