The University's Board of Visitors received a letter of no confidence for Craig Kent, chief executive officer of U.Va. Health, and Melina Kibbe, dean of the School of Medicine, Medicine professor and chief health affairs officer, demanding both of their removals. The letter, signed by 128 U.Va. Physicians Group-employed faculty, alleges that the two leaders have fostered an environment that compromises patient safety and creates a culture of fear among faculty. The letter accuses Kent and Kibbe of allowing "egregious acts" to occur at U.Va. Health and the School of Medicine, including hiring doctors with questionable quality of work, subjecting residents to harassment, excessive spending on executives instead of addressing staffing shortages, a lack of transparency on financial matters and violations of the Board of Visitors-approved code of ethics.
Cerberus Capital Management, which bought a group of Massachusetts community hospitals in 2010, and Steward Health Care, the company led by de la Torre and formed to run them, promised to invest enough to make the facilities models of care and maximize shareholder value. They rejected the argument some of us made at the time, that the kind of profits they were anticipating were utterly incompatible with providing health services to low-income patients. Well, they got their payouts. And their patients got understaffed emergency rooms, canceled surgeries, postponed medical tests, and critical — in some cases deadly — equipment shortages.
The Wabash Valley has faced significant health challenges in recent years, and market pressures of competition between Union and Regional have not sufficiently addressed these issues.... While hospital competition has been present in the community for years, it has not produced results that are benefiting residents of the community. Therefore, this merger represents an innovative solution in working with IDOH that is aimed at overcoming these persistent health disparities.
Investors spent about $1tn buying healthcare facilities over last decade, leading to reports of worsening patient care.
Private equity investment in healthcare is rapidly expanding, with a growing focus on hospice care facilities, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs.
This trend highlights the increasing involvement of private equity in all aspects of healthcare, particularly in hospice centers that provide end-of-life care.
The study shows a significant rise in acquisitions by private equity firms, with ownership of hospice facilities growing from a few in 2015 to nearly three dozen by 2021. Some firms now own multiple hospice centers across multiple states, with the majority of acquisitions occurring in southern states.
Private equity's interest in healthcare stems from its profitability, as the industry is seen as a lucrative investment opportunity.
However, critics, including Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, argue that private equity’s profit-driven motives may conflict with the compassionate, patient-centered care that hospices are meant to provide.
Unlike publicly traded companies, private equity firms operate with less transparency, raising concerns about the long-term impact on healthcare quality. The study's findings were uncovered through cross-referencing private databases and Medicare data, shedding light on the extent of private equity's growing footprint in the hospice sector.
A whistleblower has come forward to Congress alleging Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre and other Steward executives illegally conspired with foreign officials to secure a hospital contract abroad. "In touting Steward's supposed competitive advantage in Malta… de la Torre boasted that he could issue 'brown bags' to government officials if necessary to close transactions," Ram Tumuluri, a health care executive who worked with the Maltese government, wrote in a complaint to Congress. In the submission, Tumuluri describes a 2017 meeting involving the Steward CEO and alleges de la Torre was "insinuating he would bribe officials of the Government of Malta."
State officials in Massachusetts confirmed Thursday they expect to provide more than $489 million over three years to help hospitals owned by the bankrupt, for-profit company Steward Health Care transition to new owners and keep serving patients. Some of that money has already flowed to the hospitals to help pay salaries and other expenses while Steward finalized sales agreements. A bankruptcy court judge in Houston approved the deals Wednesday, and they are scheduled to close by the end of this month. The judge also approved $42 million in immediate state aid to ensure the hospitals can make payroll next week and continue operating until the deals close. That will bring the total funding the state has provided so far to $72 million, in the form of advance payments for care the hospitals are providing to Medicaid patients.