Private equity investment in hospitals has grown substantially in the 21st century, and it accelerated in the years leading up the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study of short-term acute care hospitals acquired by private equity firms, the authors find they not only have higher markups and profit margins, they’re also slower to expand their staffs.
This study leverages validated patient-reported outcomes measures to analyze the association between "financial toxicity" and quality of life and satisfaction among women undergoing ablative breast cancer surgery. Journal of the American College of Surgeons
Anaeze C. Offodile II, Christopher J. Coroneos, Yu-Li Lin, Chris Sidey-Gibbons, Malke Asaad, Brian Chin, Stefanos Boukovalas, Margaret S. Roubaud, Makesha Miggins, Donald P. BaumannDecember 21, 2020
The authors found that six months of pre–end-stage kidney disease nephrology care did not significantly improve the likelihood that patients would remain employed when they started dialysis. This finding underscores the need to identify effective methods to help patients stay employed when they transition to dialysis.
Expanded “payment bundles” for the treatment of end stage kidney disease did not in general increase the risk of closure by dialysis facilities, the authors conclude.
Sayna Norouzi, Bo Zhao, Ahmed Awan, Wolfgang Winkelmayer, Vivian Ho, Kevin EricksonFebruary 5, 2020
The results of this study suggest that Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty, which costs less to obtain than from a for-profit data source, can be used to reliably track the cost and quality effects of vertical integration between hospitals and physicians.
Consolidated dialysis markets have coincided with both positive and negative trends in health care costs and outcomes. If the underlying mechanisms that contributed to past consolidation persist, dialysis markets may remain highly concentrated over the long term.
Maryam Saeed, Vivian Ho, Kevin EricksonJanuary 12, 2020
In this study, the authors investigate where U.S. patients with limited health insurance coverage receive maintenance dialysis. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology: http://bit.ly/2Q15Jpt
The authors investigate the relationship between the number of freestanding emergency departments entering a local market and overall spending on emergency care. Academic Emergency Medicine: http://bit.ly/2pGwYMw
When physicians integrate with hospitals, the cost of health care rises even though there’s no evidence patients get better treatment, the authors write. Journal of General Internal Medicine: https://bit.ly/2lxd4RY