PESP’s PACE Tracker featured in McKnight’s Home Care
October 9, 2025
McKnight’s Home Care covered the Private Equity Stakeholder Project’s latest findings on the rapid expansion of private equity into the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a Medicaid- and Medicare-funded model designed to help seniors live safely and independently at home.
The article,Report sounds alarm about private equity’s growing involvement in PACE, features extensive insights from Michael Fenne, PESP’s Senior Healthcare Research Coordinator and author of the new PACE Investment Tracker report.
“Private equity sees PACE as a guaranteed revenue stream, not a care model,” Fenne told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse. “The result is that PACE, once a nonprofit-driven model focused on keeping seniors healthy at home, is increasingly being treated as a financial opportunity for investors.”
Fenne explained that between 2016 and 2022, the number of private-equity-backed PACE organizations quadrupled—from four to sixteen—and today roughly 30 programs are backed by either private equity or venture capital firms, serving about 12,000 participants.
He also warned that debt-driven financial strategies common in private equity could jeopardize care quality and stability for seniors:
“Private equity’s debt-driven playbook has already fueled a wave of healthcare bankruptcies, and now it’s putting vulnerable PACE participants at risk. We’re concerned because PE firms often load providers with debt, pull out cash through dividends, and chase rapid growth.”
As the PACE Investment Tracker details, private equity’s growing role in elder care comes amid federal funding cuts and rising financial pressure on long-term-care systems. PESP’s research calls on lawmakers to establish strong guardrails—including ownership transparency, restrictions on debt-funded payouts, and enhanced oversight—to ensure the program remains focused on patient care rather than investor profit.
“Policymakers should be proactive about ensuring PACE remains focused on patient care rather than investor returns,” Fenne said.
The full PESP analysis and interactive data visualization are available on thePACE Investment Tracker page.
