Summary:
Economics correspondent Paul Solman is exploring the impact on communities in Massachusetts after a private equity firm bought struggling hospitals. In his second report, he looks at how private equity's increasing role in health care is affecting patients.
Excerpt:
Paul Solman:
So, now the key question, the results of private equity in health care.
Well, Dr. Song and associates have studied Medicare data of more than half-a-million patients in hospitals after private equity takeovers. Their findings?
Dr. Zirui Song:
On average, across the country, private equity acquisitions of hospitals have led to a roughly 25 percent increase in patient adverse events.
Paul Solman:
Really? Like what?
Dr. Zirui Song:
This was driven by an increase in central line-associated bloodstream infections and an increase in patient falls, as well as doubling roughly of surgical side infections relative to a control group or comparison group of hospitals that looked like the private equity hospitals, but were not acquired by private equity firms.
TLDR: they fuck it up bad just like everything else they touch. Illegalize private equity firms before they turn us all into the same homogenized blob of shit.