How Should We Stop Private Equity Firms From Exploiting Public Health Insurance?

Private equity (PE) investments in health care have grown to over $750 billion in the past decade and include every segment of the US health sector. Although PE investments can provide capital and improve efficiency of health service delivery, PE's emphasis on short-term profitability could raise costs, diminish quality of care, and negatively influence clinician autonomy and career satisfaction. This article first canvasses what is currently known about how PE investments in physician practices influence clinician practice patterns and then proposes regulatory and legislative strategies for restricting harms of PE ownership of clinician practices and for fostering affordable and high-value health services.