Private equity healthcare investments in 2022 were the second highest on record after 2021, in terms of disclosed deal value and deal count. Home health and hospice both made it into the top 15 categories in which deal activity occurred.
That’s according to a new report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, McKnight’s reports.
“The common private equity strategy of pursuing outsized returns over relatively short periods of time can lead to cost-cutting efforts that negatively impact patients and workers,” the authors wrote. “Further, private equity firms are more likely to use debt to fund their investments, leading to unwieldy debt service obligations that can divert money away from patient care and fair compensation for employees.”
The report recommends greater government oversight over private equity mergers and acquisitions. Reviews would be handled by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, they said, under an amended Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. That act established the federal pre-merger notification program, which provides the DOJ and FTC with information about large mergers and acquisitions before they occur.
