Private Equity in Healthcare – PESP’s August 2024 Roundup

Each month, PESP’s Healthcare Team will be putting together a roundup that shares the latest news stories related to private equity in healthcare and highlights the work that our team has published in the last month.

In the news

PESP and CEPR highlight need for regulatory changes to protect consumers from private equity-owned debt collectors

• The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) jointly submitted a public comment letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding a proposed amendment to Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
• This proposed rule aimsto address the growing issue of medical debt by limiting creditors from obtaining or using information on medical debts for credit eligibility determinations. It would also prohibit consumer reporting agencies from giving creditors certain information on medical debts.
• PESP and CEPR commended the CFPB’s proposed rule change as a critical step towards protecting patients from the unjust impacts of medical debt. The proposed amendment is seen as one of multiple solutions needed to mitigate the real harms resulting from inaccurate medical debt data held by private equity-owned debt collectors and others.

Senate probes A Place for Mom, referral service accused of putting seniors at risk

 – NBC News

• NBC reported that “The Senate Special Committee on Aging is launching an investigation into A Place for Mom, the country’s largest for-profit senior care referral service, which has been accused of steering people toward facilities with documented safety and regulatory violations while collecting lucrative commissions.”
• “Committee Chair Bob Casey, D-Pa., sent a letterTuesday to A Place for Mom accusing it of misleading users about the role commissions play in its referrals and discriminating against low-income families.”
• A Place for Mom is owned by General Atlantic and Silver Lake Capital. It was previously owned by Warburg Pincus.

Steward Health Care bankruptcy saga continues

• Steward to sell physician group to private equity firm for $245 million – HealthcareDive
• Arizona’s State Department of Health shuts down Steward’s St. Luke’s Behavioral Health due to health and safety violations.
• Steward to layoff 944 workers, close two hospitals in Ohio
• Massachusetts to ‘seize’ control of St. Elizabeth’s from Steward; deals reached on 4 other hospitals – CBS News
• Protestors want Massachusetts governor to save two Steward hospitals days before they close – CBS News
• Warren, Markey Push Apollo Global Management on Role in Steward Health Care’s Demise, Call on the Company to Provide Relief from Onerous Leases
  • Senator Warren shared in a press release: “Apollo has had a shadowy role in Steward’s leases for years. Now it is time for Apollo to step into the light, and act quickly to negotiate with prospective buyers so that the hospitals can remain open and serve the people of Massachusetts.”

Healthcare team’s latest blogs, reports, and media mentions

Blog Posts:

• Private Equity Health Care Acquisitions – July 2024
• Warren, Blumenthal cite PESP in letter on veterinary care acquisitions
• Private equity healthcare bankruptcies show no signs of slowing
• PE-owned home health & hospice giant pays to settle federal billing fraud allegations
• S. healthcare industry should be wary of private equity’s acquisition of Steward Health Care physician network
• Private equity-owned SUD clinics settle false claims allegations
• Rural private equity-owned home health and hospice provider settles billing fraud allegations
• State legislatures respond to private equity’s pillaging of hospitals with mixed results

Other Media Mentions:

• PESP Healthcare Director Mary Bugbee spoke to WBUR about a former Massachusetts lieutenant governor serving on the board of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm which now owns the real estate of several Steward hospitals in Massachusetts.
• PESP’s healthcare bankruptcy data was cited by Capital & Main.
• PESP’s hospital tracker was cited in Politico and Axios.
• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel cited PESP’s November 2023 report on PE’s takeover of medical equipment industry in it is coverage of wheelchair repair delays.
• CalMatters cited PESP in coverage of amendments to a California healthcare bill targeting private equity.