In July 2023, medical staffing company American Physician Partners announced that it would close and transition its hospital contracts.
Here are seven updates since:
1. As of July 31, 2023, APP, which provided services to more than 150 hospitals and health systems organizations in 18 states, had transitioned all its clients to other emergency medicine companies or insourced with the respective hospitals or health systems.
2. In September, the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
3. The company cited the 2020 No Surprises Act, including surprise medical bills, as one of the reasons it struggled to raise revenue and recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. In October, Community Health Systems announced efforts to move staffing in-house after previously contracting with American Physician Partners. In a third-quarter earnings call, CHS said it found that bringing physician services in-house brought in an additional $4 million to CHS' adjusted earnings compared to subsidy payments previously paid to APP.
5. In October, physician staffing firm Envision, which also filed for bankruptcy in 2023, announced that its former ASC arm AmSurg will split from the company. AmSurg has since purchased all surgery centers held by Envision.
6. In April, a Michigan senator inquired of four emergency department staffing firms and the three private equity companies that own them for more information about their business practices following the bankruptcy of both APP and Envision, according to a MedPage report.
7. Also in April, a report from Private Equity Stakeholder Project revealed more than 20% of the healthcare bankruptcies in 2023 were by private equity-backed companies.