Lawmakers are demanding that the private equity firms backing TeamHealth and Envision Healthcare end pay cuts for employed physicians, according to the Financial Times.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., criticized the salary reductions by Blackstone, which owns TeamHealth, and KKR, which backs Envision Healthcare, in a mid-April letter.
Blackstone responded to the lawmakers' letter April 28, saying they made "false and misleading claims to score cheap political points."
In a follow-up letter, Ms. Warren and Ms. Porter insisted that the PE firms "should be stepping up to protect the financial security of essential frontline workers."
Neither Blackstone nor KKR disputed that they have reduced pay and benefits for their portfolio companies' physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They have asked Congress to provide financial assistance for those portfolio companies, which incurred significant financial losses due to mandatory procedure cancellations.
Knoxville, Tenn.-based TeamHealth and Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Healthcare have both received an undisclosed amount of federal aid.
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