Senate investigating whether ER care has been harmed by growing role of private-equity firms
The Senate has asked three private-equity firms for info on how they run or staff hospital emergency departments to see if private equity’s role has harmed patients.
A Senate committee has asked three major private-equity firms for information on how they run or staff hospital emergency departments to see if private equity’s management of a large share of the nation’s ERs has harmed patients.
Led by its chairman, Sen. Gary Peters, D.-Mich., the inquiry by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee centers on three of the nation’s largest private-equity firms: Apollo Global Management, the Blackstone Group and KKR. According to the information requests, Peters’ staff conducted interviews with over 40 emergency department physicians who expressed “significant concerns” about patient safety and care resulting from the aggressive practices of private-equity firms in the arena. Those practices include improper billing, retaliation and anti-competitive activities, the committee’s letters to the companies said.
Recipients of the letters, which were sent Monday, were asked to provide documents and information by April 17, and to arrange a meeting with the committee no later than May 3.
NBC News recently estimated that 40% of U.S. hospital emergency departments were overseen, staffed or managed by companies owned by private-equity firms.
The Homeland Security Committee inquiry is the second Senate investigation focused on private equity’s impact on patient care. In December, the Budget Committee launched a bipartisan investigation into two hospital systems associated with private-equity firms, seeking to assess the profits they have generated in their deals and whether those transactions harmed patients and clinicians. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D.-R.I., who chairs the committee, and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican, are leading that examination.
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