Profits Over Patients? Private Equity Firms Increasingly Going Into Health Care

The number of Americans headed to emergency rooms is on the rise, with one 2017 study finding these visits cost Americans over 76 billion dollars every year. An NBC News investigation found that private equity firms are investing with the goal of increasing profits, according to critics, sometimes at the expense of patients.
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#NBCNews #EquityFirms #Healthcare

[@e.g.4483]

America doesn’t have healthcare, it has a health business. This is beyond shameful.

[@danielboston8806]

Everything is commerce business in America… even the charity and not for profit organizations.

[@k2h2kqeb]

Mate, every public healthcare system is run ike a business. It's just government owned and the profits are reduced taxes.

[@strnglhld]

@@k2h2kqebMeh, private equity is cost cutting at the expense of patient safety at a level never before seen

[@erinh9267]

The healthcare professionals I know are consistently saying this will endanger their patients.

[@do9138]

But they continue to work for the corporations, don't they? It is almost impossible to find a doctor in private practice these days. They all work for these corporations.

[@andygotthebass6525]

@@do9138well it’s very hard to start your own practice. And it’s not like they’re working for them maliciously, their family has to eat.

[@jansonshine9082]

While the business person inside of me drools at the prospect of investment in these medical corporations they are destroying our quality of life, in every way. It's far deeper and more serious than most folks realize. It is essential we join the rest of the free world in embracing Improved, Expanded Medicare For Everyone! Cult talking point: "How will we pay for it?" We are already being scammed and suckered into paying almost 300% MORE than the second most expensive healthcare system on our planet- already!

[@s.d.c5513]

Ask not what can do for your health through expanded health coverage, ask how much more of your taxes can go to an already critically overfunded military

[@cbl6520]

The rest of the world doesn’t do a “Medicare for all approach”, they either have heavily subsidized private insurance systems, or two tiered systems (public option that’s cheap/free at the point of use, alongside a for profit private system to cover services not provided by the private sector). Only Canada, North Korea and 9 other countries do a strictly single payer, no other option approach, an approach mind you, that is highly unpopular in both the US and Europe.

[@dominicj7977]

@@cbl6520 As someone who hails from a country with 2 tiered system and who is living under a subsidised private insurance system, the former is far better than the latter.

[@joyschlomer6866]

The only thing overfunded in America, my dear man, is the military

[@buddymax4388]

Private equity firms are another word for corporate raiders of the 20th century, PURE GREED

[@jmtruesdale2868]

Thank you NBC,Thank you Dr.Brovant, Chief Medical board Dr. McMurray for being the Doctor/ Patient advocate🌹

[@roopinderpalsinghrandhawa9846]

ER is super over priced in the country. Amazing method to milk the healthcare system.

[@psychicpajamas]

😡😡😡😡😡 no more profits over human health!

[@elizabethedwards7082]

Healthcare in the US is a joke. It should be in the top 10 in the world, but it is down at 40. Sad. Many of the young doctors are inadequately trained. For over 70 years, quality has declined.

[@do9138]

A doctor called to tell me I have cancer, but she said she couldn't tell me more because the path report was 9 pages long and written by a pathologist.

[@alesia912]

the entire country puts profits over citizens.

[@debbiemcconkey4258]

Private equity firms have been buying up houses and driving prices up beyond what private people can afford. Real estate and mortgage companies are pleased as it means more profit for them in the short term. However long term I believe it is going to lead to a similar problem to the 2008 real estate crash. The private equity firms are looking for a safer place to invest than the stock market, but removing houses from the market is unsustainable, raising prices artificially because of perceived shortages, and creating real shortages by putting houses which could be sold in the rental market. This is a recipe for disaster. Investors beware.

[@do9138]

I rent from one so predatory the Washington Post wrote a page-one story about it in December 2021.

[@vickijohnson9367]

The key to stopping them is to make their activity not profitable. Avoid their products and services like the plague on humanity that it really is!

[@sarayusarayu832]

If I ever have to go to the ER, just let me die because this is a joke 💀

[@amocan3932]

I work in the field. I had an md tell me that his hospital fired half the md and put mor nurses in charge. HOSPICE is out of control down here in south FL if you go into the hospital and you are over a certain age they push Hospos over rehab. 🤷🏼‍♂️ it cost (Medicare) over $5000 a month in most cases a nurse wil come out one or two times a month to fill your pill box that would not cost more than maybe couple hundred dollars why can they charge 5000??? No wonder they get the hard sell in the hospital probably getting kickbacks. Oh ya Rick Scott is known around here for robing Medicare! Crooks the whole bunch of them!

[@benjiebenjamin7810]

I was left to die in an ER in the DFW, TX area, early '90s after I crawled in, literally on my belly, couldn't speak, was having a near fatal reaction to a procedure from another hospital earlier that day....I survived only because a neighbor came up to check on me in the nick of time. She also saw stats taken then as she threatened to call the law & stood guard until they helped me as she told them what was medically done to me previously. The paperwork they mailed me were lies on the stats, & it stated "no insurance", as if I was in fine health. They assumed I had no insurance, I did BUT that shouldn't of mattered, eh?. I wonder to this day how many have died @ that hospital & how many other medical facilities, as the dead can't tell. Hospitals can say what they want & who is going to know the difference? How many hospitals do that?

[@williamkinkade1132]

Can't pay? Then we will take out your stitches.

[@benjiebenjamin7810]

@@williamkinkade1132 So sad that how many millions go without proper medical care. I've known people who've died from improper or neglect medical attention. ERs have laws, federal assistance that ERs can get funding to assist uninsured patients. There's no excuse to neglect anyone....tho a conscious & taking the medical oath to save lives should be motive enough. But then, mechanics are not all honest, lawyers, etc., yada & blah. Sadly that's where we're falling to in this world of 'me me me' & f#$k anyone else 💔.

[@jmtruesdale2868]

The hospitals in North Carolina in not the same. Not all people qualified physicians. I have reported 3 doctors and 2 nurses for physical assaults! The assaults keep happening. I noticed the long history covering up abuse by including mental illness. People should be very careful about complete physical exam,, physical attacks or brutal attacks included!

[@jmtruesdale2868]

I believe this one person who said on Twitter, People who show up at the ER with precondition, on Medicaid do not reciprocate. Pandemic extravaganza sparked fear for anyone who was listening?🌹

[@jmtruesdale2868]

My 1st assault happened, I believe 2006,. when my mom called to asked ,if, I would take my sister Jacqueline to see a doctor for stomach pains? My sister had refused to go alone. I went where the health department were known for providing quality neighborhood care. I thought I would include myself for a check up to giving my special need narcotic sister inspiration and encouragement. BILLINGSLEY Road turned to the worst unthinkable horrible physical assault to be imagined! I reported and the response by Ms Clark made no sense. N.C. and S.C. have high rates fatalities for women. Record history tampering with Fraudulent reports filings. 🌹

[@FireoftheRedSun55]

They have also helped engineer the closing of rural hospitals across the country.

[@88JLine]

This is probably the reason why they listed me as an outpatient with a broken neck and rushed me out of there within 2 days despite the pain I was in and the danger I was in.

[@Jennifercb1133]

This. 100%.

[@bwj3456]

Envision came to my hospital and all of the Hospitalists left. The contracts were insulting to the hospitalists in that they would pay them less and cutt their staffing. We now have physicians barely out of school that think they know everything but in actuality don't have a clue!

[@hubbs5759]

It's almost impossible to find decent healthcare anywhere in this country. Medicare For All would save $450 billion and 68,000 lives annually.

[@jonnygarland4741]

🤔Why speak to your law makers don't you know hospitals really are paying off lawmakers everyday only in America

[@0forgetaboutit0]

I would like to know who these firms are out there.

[@jonnygarland4741]

Those doctors don't have no reason to lie not all doctors but most all doctors REALLY CARE about people that's why they come to be doctor's

[@buddahdakillaman]

Most people will go against their morals when large amounts of money are a factor.

[@ardenmcconnell6387]

This isn't new. This is exactly why we need universal health care and Obama care. Work with Naturepaths. When my first baby was born, the Hospital bill, for 2 weeks, was $68.00 and the Dr. was $50.00. Now it's thousands.

[@lynnebarrett9912]

Never FORGET: 1) OBAMACARE WORKS. oh. He's black. OH. HOW BORING CAN YOU BE? (Remember the BUSH TWIN$ GOOD BEHAVIOR?)

[@MacchiatoSwirlGirl]

Well Obama type care leaves a huge hole for abusive care. Government health care is evil. It leaves to managed care, so there is nooo autonomy, leaves an open door for abuse like Medi-Cal and Medicaid. Even "Traditional" Medicare doctors don't want to take, they want you in a god awful medicare advantage so they have control on who and where you go to see. Traditional Medicare is safest for patients, but not for doctors. They want control optimal opportunist and narcissist in this generation of medical care. Look up the insurance whistle blower William Potter

[@lynnehood2198]

Obama care is what ruined American health care.What is needed is transparency

[@pamelajudithrwanyarare8429]

Greed will be the death of America.

[@janetblack905]

Between medical insurance companies and private equity firms receiving true healthcare is a crap shoot.

[@afihaileywibowo1095]

Where is the government ?

[@DrVictorVasconcelos]

Aaand new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association already shows that hospitals owned by private equity have a higher rate of adverse effects even though they generally take less-risky patients, including 25% more elderly falls.

[@dottyberendes5533]

I truly wish you would look into long term care facilities too. They are far worse than hospitals. The first is Life Care Centers of America the Rocky Mountain division

[@dwkwb8]

Nothing less than outlying private equity involvement in healthcare and physician staffing specifically is going to fix this problem. But no one will do that because every politicians pockets are being lined by the same people trying to get their grubby hands into healthcare. Meanwhile the public is totally unaware. remember it’s not your doctors fault that your hospital administration decided to sign a contract with one of these corporate staffing companies. Your doctor needs a job and if it was up to them they wouldn’t work for one of these companies but in many areas there are no other options. 40% of hospital administrations have signed deals with the devil.

[@maryjane_lane]

WE DESPERATELY NEED UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE NOW! People are getting tossed into the streets without care, all hospitals are essential corporations, nothing more.

[@Slide61]

Thank goodness states like Oregon are around. Always have the option to pull the plug instead of putting my family in the poor house

[@00y93]

How many times do you hear a company say, "Our goal is to make our shareholders happy"? 😂 And wow, that doctor got 26 million? Good. That'll teach em

[@garnetrose6162]

“Metrics” and Private Equity must be abolished

[@jhariette]

Yup it's all about the money!!!!

[@samiraakhave9459]

Happening in dentistry everyday.

[@mubadadon3943]

I love what he said about changing the system. I believe 🙏 7

[@jasonstewart3748]

This is why my aunt had a stroke and had her legs amputated in 2021.

[@80sHeavymetalchick9]

I don't even want to know how much I owe at this point. It's insanity... I may not even be able to get a job because of medical debt... Even non profit ...well supposedly they are but I looked them up and the CEO makes over 4 million a year & it is basically considered a loss...they are also a monopoly basically

[@wardrobelion]

This has been happening for decades…

[@63frogsinahat84]

Please watch out if you go to an emergency room. You'll get money scams from TeamHealth.

[@Shaun-Vargas]

Reminds me of things Bernie said, but everyone in The Democratic Party lost their 💩 and now we got Biden, and he ain't going to do nothing to fix this problem

[@quippy8402]

Everyone should have already figured out how this country works by now. Money and profits are almost always over everything else. That's what lobbying is for.

[@EthicsClassRVU]

An unfortunate fact is that money does make the world go round. People that deny this have not realized that the American healthcare system is not always there to provide the healthcare someone needs without getting many billions with amounts that are absurd. I know a friend who was asked to pay $34 for a band aid, where that same bandaid at any grocery store would probably be less than 10 cents. Unfortunately healthcare is a business, so I get why private equity firms are starting to invest in them. However, I do not think this is following the ethical principle of Justice. It is vital to have healthcare providers that are able / and allowed to share their opinion as well as the science behind decisions instead of allowing business men and women to just sit there looking at the costs and making opinions. I think by moving into the field of looking at how much money something makes is a slippery slope as people are going to be more invested in making money, instead of making the right decisions for the people coming to their hospitals for care. As healthcare providers it becomes exhausting to constantly advocate for your patients and why you ordered certain tests when you work for a company that might not be understanding or helpful.

[@carmimoultrie1448]

You can see the obvious of roll em in, roll em out at the hospitals I've been in. Their only care is the scores they get on pt surveys.

[@ybemad]

ABC's The Good Doctor but it's reimagined as the Profitable Doctor

[@schboove2668]

Stuff like this makes me wish I’d never been born.

[@MacchiatoSwirlGirl]

I wish that everyday at this point

[@ChildofGod71]

Cdc equity point based care are monsters!Now in schools pull kids from evil monsters

[@yelenav3409]

Medicine should be designed in such a way that dr should not need to focus on $ and brining in profits .

[@vickijohnson9367]

The service of healthcare facilities has deteriorated completely compared to the time before the deregulation of private finance. Health facilities are now 100% creepy. (All over the United States). Our finance crap infiltrated and took over the NHS completely. So sad that capitalism’s private finance isn’t heavily regulated out. Financial entities need to get out of perverting U.S. food, permanently out of our soil and water, and microbiology. Finance investing in industries that make all life sick, and dying. With civilization now owned by capital’s profit “new gilded age” robber barons, the lesson may be learned for eternity, as their investments are very deliberately killing off all life on earth at an accelerated pace. It’s not like they don’t know what they are doing! Pure evil!

[@do9138]

Doctors retaliate if you complain. They don't return calls. They spend even less time with you. They are so arrogant and entitled.

[@chessman70]

Privatization means exploitation.

[@jonnygarland4741]

I got cut open by blood thinner twice I cannot put ANY lawsuit if any lawyer will called me I will split any money

[@x-men69-96]

Who doesn’t want to make money? I don’t blame the private investors. The gov needs to stop this.

[@AA-iy4gm]

People elect officials in government so if people are greedy, the officials they elect usually are too, so there isn't anyone left to stop this.

[@Nessi-01]

America for sale.

[@issaahmed8504]

This is socialism. 🤫

[@PrinceChris93]

No wonder some of the nurses are so cranky

[@doggieGZ]

HoOrAy Obamacare! insurance industry gouging the crap out of the medical system triggered this

[@Susieq26754]

Doctors are independent of hospitals. They are private contractors. Some of them also lie like no other.

[@jieli3313]

If Russia is determined to settle energy in rubles! We will consider giving up oil energy and natural gas energy! Switch to hydrogen energy, electric vehicle energy!