A recent headline in the Boston Business Journal read "Private equity acquisitions of hospitals are bad for patients, Harvard study finds"
Here's a link to the original article: https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2023/12/26/private-equity-hospital-harvard.html
The key finding was "A new study from Harvard Medical School found that private equity acquisitions of hospitals led to worse outcomes for patients."
Some of the online comments on LinkedIn about this article read:
"Why would that surprise anybody. Private equity does not care about patient satisfaction, quality of care outcomes, or adverse event. They care about the bottom line and they need to make a profit so they will do everything to make a profit without any thought of the patient or the physician."
"Of course, a study wasn't required to state the obvious! A special place in Dante's Inferno 9th circle of HELL exists for predatory private equity firms and those in the C-suite who enable them. It's all about lining their pockets with $$$, and nothing whatsoever about patient safety."
"I don’t see why anyone would find this to be a surprise. The mandates of PE and physicians are 180° opposites. PE has no ethical mandate, and a legal mandate to make money for shareholders rather than providing care in the best interest of the patient. The physician has a *legal mandate* and ethical obligation to provide the best care for the patient first and always and there is at no point a legal mandate to make money for *anyone*.
So, what’s wrong with this picture? We are trying to make lard water soluble here."
For those of us that operate in the world of Regulated Investment Crowdfunding, there is a far better path for private hospital ownership than private equity. Through RegA+, a HOLDCO has the potential to raise up to $75 million PER YEAR from the local community, including individual non-accredited investors. This approach allows for local ownership and operation, fostering greater responsiveness to the patients and community in which the hospital operates. I hope the Crowdfunding Professional Association (#CfPA) can bring more attention to this sector in 2024. Lives literally depend in it.
Happy New Year all!
@Devin Thorpe @Brian Belley @Jenny Kassan @Scott McIntyre @Sara Hanks @Brian Korn @Peter Rostovsky @Etan Butler @Rebecca Kacaba @Andrew Savikas c...@...m #RIC #crowdfunding
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Over the years, I've watched even nonprofit hospital owners become increasingly focused on profit. Nonprofits are presumably owned by the community. That doesn't work if the community's wealthiest serve on the boards and VERY-well-paid executives run the nonprofit. Reimagining the hospital as genuinely owned by the community could completely change the game!