PESP highlights private equity healthcare risks at conference 

PESP Healthcare Director talk about private equity risks in healthcare at the Princeton conference hosted by Brandeis University

On Thursday, November 14, PESP’s Healthcare Director Mary Bugbee participated in the panel discussion The Impacts of Private Equity in the U.S.: Micro and Macro Perspectives at the 2024 Princeton Conference. The event, hosted by Brandeis University’s Council on Health Care Economics and Policy at Babson College, brought together leading experts to explore critical challenges in healthcare.

Moderated by Zirui Song, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Health Care Policy and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the panel also featured Dr. Yashaswini Singh, Assistant Professor at Brown University. Together, they delved into the far-reaching consequences of private equity’s growing influence in healthcare.

Mary’s presentation, Private Equity’s Risks in Healthcare, shed light on how private equity ownership often prioritizes short-term profits over patient care, leading to increased costs, reduced transparency, and heightened financial risks for providers and patients alike. Drawing from PESP’s extensive research, she detailed the systemic issues driven by the private equity business model, including staffing shortages, surprise billing practices, and rising bankruptcy rates among healthcare providers. She underscored the need for greater regulatory oversight and policy reforms to protect communities and workers.

Dr. Singh, a co-panelist, shared complementary perspectives on the macroeconomic implications of private equity, highlighting the intersection of healthcare financing and labor market dynamics.

This year’s conference was made possible through the support of leading organizations dedicated to advancing healthcare policy research. For more information about the conference and its agenda, visit theofficial webpage.

Mary’s presentation slides, which provide a comprehensive analysis of private equity’s impact on the U.S. healthcare system, are available here.

PESP remains committed to exposing the harms of private equity across sectors, advocating for transparency, accountability, and meaningful reform. To learn more about our work in healthcare, visit our healthcare page, or see here to access an archive of PESP’s reports and research briefs.

PESP also has a number of policy recommendations to address private equity’s impacts in healthcare. See our December 2024 report “Recent trends Recent policy and regulatory initiatives to address private equity’s negative impacts in healthcare” to learn more.