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Reminds me of "Does Private Equity Investment in Healthcare Benefit Patients?" [1]. > Our estimates show that PE ownership increases the short-term mortality o
by verteu 3y ago
Reminds me of "Does Private Equity Investment in Healthcare Benefit Patients?" [1].
> Our estimates show that PE ownership increases the short-term mortality of Medicare patients by 10%, implying 20,150 lives lost due to PE ownership over our twelve-year sample period. This is accompanied by declines in other measures of patient well-being, such as lower mobility, while taxpayer spending per patient episode increases by 11%. We observe operational changes that help to explain these effects, including declines in nursing staff and compliance with standards.
[1] https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28474/w28474.pdf https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28474/w284...
- johndhi 3y agoAn absolutely wild and illuminating statement
- ackbar03 3y agoCapitalism at its best! America! Fk yeah!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Calavar 3y agoAnother good article in this space is the New Yorker's report on Hahneman Hospital [1], which was acquired by a private equity firm and dissolved a few years later. [1] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/the-death-of-hahnemann-hospital https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/the-death-of-h...
- starcraft2wol 3y agoAs they acknowledge, this factor is extremely difficult to isolate from demographics, geography, religion, etc.
- synetic 3y agoBut it is not difficult to isolate from common sense. No one should profit from denying someone healthcare. All systems have ration care but it is immoral for someone to profit by denying care. Profit motive does not make for a good healthcare system.
- kjghkjghkjgh 3y agoShould a Lasik surgeon provide Lasik to everyone regardless of their ability to pay?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- synetic 3y agoThe lasik surgeon in your example isn’t profiting by denying care. Their profit does not increase by declining service.
- kjghkjghkjgh 3y agoIs a PE hospital profiting when it denies care too? How is that different from a lasik surgeon denying care?
- synetic 3y agoI didn’t make claims about how PE hospitals make a profit. I just said that no one should profit from denying care. I can think of a situation in which a hospital’s owners want to make sure their return on their investment exceeds x% per year and the hospital administrators deny care based on this consideration (otherwise they might get fired for not generating enough profit). This isn’t the scenario I had in mind when I wrote that no one should profit from denying care. WhenI wrote that I was thinking of insurance companies and wanted to convey a sense that profit driven motives in health care can have bad consequences. Some things ought not be profit driven.
- kjghkjghkjgh 3y agoThat is a "working paper" and has not been peer reviewed.
- verteu 3y agoExcellent point -- I'll look for a meta-analysis of the peer reviewed ressearch.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- rqtwteye 3y ago“while taxpayer spending per patient episode increases by 11%. “ I am sure they are already working on increasing this from only 11% to much more.
- EMCymatics 3y agoCommenting so I can revisit this with a more thorough response.