In Case You Missed It: PE in Healthcare

Private equity (PE) is like a heat-seeking missile trained on targeting profit, while healthcare has been a more cautious potential partner, asking important questions like:

Will prices for medical care go up or down after a PE firm buys a provider organization?
Will quality and service go up or down after a PE firm buys a provider organization?

Still no firm answers, but we’ve been tracking the data long enough to see that the impact of PE is upon us, a fast evolution over just a few years.

If you’ve been missing the latest, use this package to catch up so you can have an informed conversation on PE in healthcare.

Adding Up the Impact of PE on Healthcare

PODCAST

David W. Johnson and Julie Murchinson debate whether we should increase oversight of private equity acquisitions in healthcare in light of the most recent research on this market dynamic on this special edition of the 4sight Health Roundup podcast, moderated by David Burda. Listen.

The Orthopod’s Dilemma — Caught Between the PE Rock and the Venture Capital Hard Place

COMMENTARY

Historically, orthopedic practice groups have been fiercely independent, but that’s changing as private equity investors are acquiring practices at an accelerating rate, says 4sight Health’s David W. Johnson from the front row of The OrthoForum. More.

Private Equity Penetration and Policy in Healthcare

PODCAST

David W. Johnson and Julie Murchinson discussed the latest trends in private equity investment and ownership in healthcare and whether we need new policies to monitor both on the new episode of the 4sight Health Roundup podcast, moderated by David Burda. Listen.

Doctors Bite the Private Equity Hand That Feeds Them

BLOG

When a private equity firm buys your provider, you can hope for better quality and service to justify higher prices, but 4sight Health’s David Burda says that’s not the reality. More.

About the Author

David Burda

David Burda began covering healthcare in 1983 and hasn’t stopped since. Dave writes this monthly column “Burda on Healthcare,” contributes weekly blog posts, manages our weekly newsletter 4sight Friday, and hosts our weekly Roundup podcast. Dave believes that healthcare is a business like any other business, and customers — patients — are king. If you do what’s right for patients, good business results will follow.

Dave’s personnel experiences with the healthcare system both as a patient and family caregiver have shaped his point of view. It’s also been shaped by covering the industry for 40 years as a reporter and editor. He worked at Modern Healthcare for 25 years, the last 11 as editor.

Prior to Modern Healthcare, he did stints at the American Medical Record Association (now AHIMA) and the American Hospital Association. After Modern Healthcare, he wrote a monthly column for Twin Cities Business explaining healthcare trends to a business audience, and he developed and executed content marketing plans for leading healthcare corporations as the editorial director for healthcare strategies at MSP Communications.

When he’s not reading and writing about healthcare, Dave spends his time riding the trails of DuPage County, IL, on his bike, tending his vegetable garden and daydreaming about being a lobster fisherman in Maine. He lives in Wheaton, IL, with his lovely wife of 40 years and his three children, none of whom want to be journalists or lobster fishermen.

March 26, 2024