A Jan. 7 bipartisan Senate report titled "Profits Over Patients: The Harmful Effects of Private Equity on the U.S. Health Care System" heavily scrutinized private equity involvement in healthcare, particularly in underserved and rural communities.
Here are 10 takeaways from the report:
1. The report was published by the Senate Budget Committee and authored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Charles Grassley.
2. The report focused specifically on two firms: Apollo Global Management and Leonard Green & Partners.
3. The report examines Apollo's ownership of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health, which includes Ottumwa (Iowa) Regional Health Center. In 2022, a nurse practitioner at ORHC fatally overdosed on drugs acquired at the hospital and was later found to have sexually assaulted nine incapacitated female patients in less than two years.
4. "Questions arose as to how such horrific events could have occurred undetected, including the role of the hospital operator and its PE owner," the authors wrote.
5. The report described the negative impacts inadequate staffing and mismanagement of the facility and its equipment had on hospital staff, even as Apollo was profiting off of management fees.
6. The report also included comments from employees at ORHC who participated in a June 2022 culture of safety survey.
7. "I watch my peers advocate for patient safety, speak up when they have concerns, and listen to leadership be dismissive and judgmental," said one. Another commenter said that division leadership did not "do anything to combat staffing issues, resulting in staff working unsafely either due to lack of staff, burnout, or fatigue."
8. LGP, the other firm facing scrutiny, held a majority stake in Prospect Medical Holdings for several years, which owned several hospitals in Rhode Island and other states.
9. "During LGP's majority ownership, several PMH hospitals suffered from the effects of labor cuts, decreased patient capacity, inadequate and unsafe building maintenance, and financial distress," the report said.
10. The report contends that LGP neglected these aspects of management while profiting $424 million of the $645 million that PMH paid out in dividends and preferred stock redemption while LGP held a majority stake in the company. This, combined with $14 million in management fees charged by LGP, resulted in PMH being forced to close two hospitals and struggling to pay the bills of its remaining hospitals.