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Private Equity Acquisitions
Acquisition of ambulatory surgical
centers (ASCs) by private equity firms is growing. In the September issue of Health Affairs, Joseph Bruch and coauthors use data from 2009–2017 to examine changes in outcomes associated with these
acquisitions.
The authors find no statistically significant differences in the seven-day unplanned hospital visit rate, total costs of encounters, or volume of patient encounters between ASCs that were and were not acquired by private equity.
“A primary contribution to the literature from our findings is directly assessing the effect of private equity acquisitions on the quality of care. Overall, we found no signal of decreased quality of care associated with private equity acquisition of ASCs,” the authors continue.
Bruch and coauthors do assert that tracking the financial performance of ASCs will be valuable in understanding the impact that private equity acquisitions have on overall US health care cost growth.
To read more from this article and other papers from the September issue, become a Health Affairs subscriber.
Today in Health Affairs
Forefront, Maanasa Kona and Sabrina Corlette argue that policy makers have more work to do to ensure greater transparency in the health care system.
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Health Equity Fellowship Reading List
Andrew Anderson is a health services researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. He is also a fellow with the Health Equity For Trainees. To recognize the beginning of a new school year, Anderson provides a reading list for those interested in health equity studies.
Effective health policy and health equity interventions depend on consistent definitions and methods. Hardeman presents a careful and critical analysis of ways to validly measure structural racism to achieve health equity.
I found this Forefront article to be a timely addition to the conversation on health equity measurement. The article discusses the types of data and metrics the health care system needs to monitor and encourage behavior change to reduce health inequities.
Algorithms are now used for all kinds of health care decisions. But there is concern that they may lead to discriminatory decisions. Cabreros presents approaches to the imputation of race and ethnicity that can help mitigate potential algorithmic biases.
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.
