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One of the most contentious issues in health care today is private equity investment. Over the past two decades, private equity firms have acquired hundreds of U.S. hospitals, leading to concerns about how these ownership structures affect patient care, staffing levels, access to care and long-term stability. Recently, Democratic lawmakers introduced the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act, which would prohibit private equity firms, health insurance companies and other for-profit corporations from owning medical practices, among other things.

However, new research from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis shows private equity only accounts for a small share of the nation's hospitals. The study finds that fewer than 4% of U.S. short-term acute care hospitals were owned by private equity firms in 2024, and most Americans live in hospital markets without a private equity–owned hospital.

"Three Facts About Private Equity in the U.S. Hospital Sector," published in Health Affairs Scholar, also finds that private equity ownership typically lasts less than five years, with hospitals frequently sold to other investors or traditional health care operators.

Ryan C. McDevitt, a professor of economics at WashU's Olin Business and Bursky School of Public Health, co-authored the study with researchers from Duke University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Indiana University.

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