The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Monday, May 10, 2021
Dear John,
The May 2021 issue of Health Affairs features multiple articles on organization of care. Today we highlight two about private equity acquisitions of hospitals and physician practices.
Understanding Private Equity Involvement In Health Care
Two May papers discuss private equity firms’ practices in health care.
In the first, Anaeze Offodile II and coauthors provide anoverview of private equity acquisitions of acute care hospitals. They found that acquisitions occur predominantly in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern US and are more likely to be for-profit hospitals in urban areas. They also found that on average private equity–acquired hospitals had higher operating margins than non-acquired hospitals.
Dermatology has been the most commonly targeted specialty for private equity firms investing in physician practices. Robert Tyler Braun and colleagues estimated the prevalence of acquisitions and their impact on dermatology prices, spending, utilization, and volume of patients. They determined thatprivate equity acquisition leads to dermatologists seeing up to 17 percent more patients after two years and charging more for routine visits.
Today on Health Affairs Blog: As we look toward the eventual end of the COVID-19 crisis in the US, much discussion is focused on the future of telehealth—what it will look like, who will be able to access it, and how it will be paid for once the public health emergency ends.
Today on Health Affairs Blog we feature a special collection of new pieces identifying key considerations for charting telehealth’s course.
Chad
Ellimoottil draws on emerging evidence to counter arguments against continuing payment parity for telehealth after the pandemic ends.
Kyle Thomson draws attention to an under-the-radar statutory provision in the Social Security Act that will result in most Medicare beneficiaries losing access to telehealth at the
end of the current public health emergency—unless Congress acts.
Joseph Liss, David Peloquin, and Barbara Bierer call for a new licensure system, based on nursing’s successful model, that would enable physicians to practice across state borders—enabling the replacement of in-person visits with telehealth.
Building on a previousblog post, Amol Navathe and Joshua Liao encourage policy makers to view telehealth as an opportunity to fundamentally rethink care delivery under alternative payment models.
Elevating Voices: Asian American and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month: Kevin Nguyen and colleagues published a paper in 2018 that found that although disparities in access to care between straight adults and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults have narrowed in the post-Affordable Care Act era, LGB adults still reported having significantly more bad mental health days relative to their
straight peers.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by
Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
