Private Equity’s Role in Healthcare

Private equity investors spent more than $200 billion on health care acquisitions in 2021 alone, and $1 trillion in the past decade. Private equity firms have long been active in hospital, nursing home, and home care settings. But recently, acquisitions of physician practices have skyrocketed, especially in high-margin specialties like dermatology, urology, gastroenterology, and cardiology. A recent study showed that in 13 percent of metropolitan areas, a single private equity firm owns more than half of the physician market for certain specialties.