Private Equity Firms Exploit Patients
Seeking Emergency Care
The growing presence of private equity-backed providers is becoming an all too common influence in the health system – and one of the leading drivers behind egregious surprise medical bills that bankrupt families across the country. Learn more about how private equity firms exploit the market at the expense of patients – and why surprise medical billing reforms need to address the soaring cost of these bills.
Five Things to Know About the No Surprises Act
Millions of Americans have received care in a hospital or emergency department since 2022 without receiving a costly surprise medical bill, thanks to the bipartisan No Surprises Act. The law continues to protect patients from surprise bills, but efforts to undermine...
CASMB Submits Comments to DOJ, FTC, and HHS on Private Equity’s Impact on the U.S. Health Care System
The Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing (CASMB) recently submitted comments to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to a request for information (RFI) to better...
What They Are Saying: Private Equity-Backed Providers’ Taking Advantage of IDR at Consumers’ Expense
Policy experts across the political spectrum are sounding the alarm on how private equity (PE) is manipulating the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process under the No Surprises Act (NSA). As a result, concerns are mounting that the now-expansive IDR process...
ICYMI: New Research Confirms Rise In Private Equity-Acquired Physician Practices
A new report published in Health Affairs confirms a troubling increase in the number of private equity-acquired physician practices between 2012-2021, raising further concerns about these firms’ penetration at the physician level into local markets and the potential...
STAT: How America’s Largest Catholic Hospital System Is Moonlighting As A Private Equity Firm
By Rachel Cohrs VIEW ONLINE “The nation’s largest Catholic hospital system, a sprawling behemoth of more than 140 hospitals called Ascension, is quietly building an unprecedented and strikingly unusual $1 billion private equity operation, using its wealth to invest...
KFF: More Than 1 Million Patients Still At Risk Of A Surprise Bill From Ground Ambulances
As many as 1.5 million privately insured patients who are brought to an emergency room by an ambulance may be at risk of getting a surprise medical bill each year, according to new research published by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The research highlights the acute...
In New Advertising Campaign, Coalition Mobilizes Patients & Allies Around Push For Surprise Billing Reforms In End-of-Year Legislation
Washington, D.C. – With millions of patients still facing the threat and fear of a surprise medical bill from out-of-network providers, the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing launched a new six-figure advertising and advocacy campaign to make sure Congress...
The one word you don’t want to hear during anesthesia: Surprise
In the latest example of surprise medical billing gone very wrong, patients who require anesthesia for elective procedures – from dental fixes to more complex surgeries – often learn days after that they are victims of a surprise bill. According to a recent report...
Air Ambulance Companies Prove The Sky Isn’t The Limit When It Comes to Surprise Billing
How it started: Brookings – High air ambulance charges concentrated in private equity-owned carriers (October 13, 2020) “…rapid growth in air ambulance prices is borne by consumers both through higher insurance premiums and more directly through cost-sharing and...
Axios: Hospitals Charge A Lot More When Wall Street Owns Them
By Sam Baker Hospitals owned by private equity firms rake in almost 30% more income than hospitals that aren’t, according to new research published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine. Why it matters: Private equity is gobbling up more and more of the health care...