Table.
Characteristics of Private Equity–Owned Hospitals and Control Hospitals*
| Characteristic | Private Equity–Owned Hospitals (n = 130) | Control Hospitals (n = 688) | Adjusted Difference (95% CI) | P Value† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geographic region, % | ||||
| South | 53 | 54 | – | – |
| West | 24 | 23 | – | – |
| Northeast | 17 | 17 | – | – |
| Midwest | 6 | 7 | – | – |
| Hospital size, % | ||||
| Small (≤49 beds) | 7 | 7 | – | – |
| Medium (50–450 beds) | 91 | 91 | – | – |
| Large (≥451 beds) | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| Mean rurality score (SD)‡ | 2.70 (2.16) | 2.28 (2.14) | 0.42 (0.01 to 0.83) | 0.043 |
| Mean hospital ZIP code median household income (SD), $ | 45 389 (16 614) | 50 112 (24 472) | −4723 (−9455 to 9) | 0.050 |
| Mean patient experience score (SD)§ | 85.47 (3.74) | 88.19 (3.05) | −2.68 (−3.56 to −1.80) | <0.001 |
| Mean total patients discharged (SD), n | 5764 (4719) | 8453 (6660) | −1839 (−2364 to −1313) | <0.001 |
| Mean net income (SD), million $|| | 5.1 (16.5) | 15.1 (28.1) | −2.3 (−5.4 to 0.8) | 0.149 |
| Mean net income per patient discharged (SD), $ | 1030.3 (3453.2) | 1038.2 (6499.0) | −7.9¶ | – |
| Mean total inpatient charges (SD), million $** | 307.7 (355.2) | 423.2 (468.2) | 22.3 (−16.6 to 61.2) | 0.26 |
| Mean total inpatient charges per day (SD), $ | 9194.7 (4110.9) | 8825.6 (5498.3) | 369.1¶ | – |
| Mean total charges (SD), million $†† | 621.5 (562.8) | 877.2 (802.8) | 9.3 (−68.5 to 87.2) | 0.81 |
| Mean total charge-to-cost ratio (SD) | 5.8 (2.0) | 4.8 (2.4) | 1.0¶ | – |
| Mean Medicare patients discharged (SD), n‡‡ | 1958.5 (1603.0) | 2709.8 (2150.1) | 36.0 (−97.3 to 169.3) | 0.59 |
| Mean Medicare share of patients discharged (SD), % | 36.1 (10.3) | 34.4 (10.6) | 1.7¶ | – |
| Mean Medicaid patients discharged (SD), n§§ | 591.5 (756.4) | 763.8 (890.5) | 1.8 (−146.3 to 149.9) | 0.98 |
| Mean Medicaid share of patients discharged (SD), % | 11.1 (9.9) | 10.2 (11.1) | 0.9¶ | – |
| Mean full-time equivalent employees (SD), n|||| | 667.8 (487.5) | 1077.9 (899.2) | −164.9 (−250.6 to −79.1) | <0.001 |
| Mean full-time equivalent employees per occupied bed (SD), n | 12.6 (5.4) | 14.5 (10.9) | −1.9¶ | – |
Private equity–owned hospitals were matched to control hospitals on hospital referral region and size bin using exact matching in R MatchIt (R Foundation). We assigned control hospitals weights that summed to 1 (1/number of control hospitals). Hospital referral region was separated by geographic region for the purpose of this table.
To compare acute care hospitals owned by private equity firms with similarly sized and located hospitals not owned by private equity firms and to accommodate correlation within hospital referral region, we used a linear regression model with the variable of interest as the dependent variable and private equity ownership status as the independent variable, conditional on hospital referral region. We clustered SEs at the hospital referral region level.
Rurality codes range from metropolitan (1) to highly rural (10). These codes come from the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas geographic taxonomy, version 3.10.
The patient experience score refers to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems linear score.
We modeled total net income as the outcome and adjusted for total discharges, total beds, and hospital referral region.
Value is a ratio difference.
We modeled total inpatient charges as the outcome and adjusted for total inpatient days, total beds, and hospital referral region.
We modeled total charges as the outcome and adjusted for total costs, total beds, and hospital referral region.
We modeled total Medicare discharges as the outcome and adjusted for total discharges, total beds, and hospital referral region.
We modeled total Medicaid discharges as the outcome and adjusted for total discharges, total beds, and hospital referral region.
We modeled total full-time equivalent employees as the outcome and adjusted for occupied beds (total patient days/365), total beds, and hospital referral region.