Private Equity Acquisition in Primary Care and Avoidable Hospitalizations

Do acute care outcomes change after private equity acquisition of primary care practices?In this economic evaluation with a difference-in-differences analysis, private equity (PE) acquisition of primary care practices was not associated with clinically meaningful changes to all-cause or preventable hospitalizations. PE acquisitions were associated with a modest reduction in emergency department visits. There were no observed changes in patient composition in terms of demographics and patient risk.PE acquisitions in primary care did not yield meaningful changes in all-cause or preventable hospitalizations for the traditional Medicare population; these findings highlight the heterogeneity in patient outcomes following PE acquisition across care settings.

Corresponding Author: Yashaswini Singh, PhD, MPA, Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health, Brown University, 121 S Main St, Providence, RI 02903 (yashaswini_singh@brown.edu).

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