WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) is right this moment introducing laws to fight non-public fairness in American well being care.

“Private equity and consolidation in our health care system lead to worse outcomes and higher bills for patients,” stated Congresswoman Jayapal. “Health care is a human right and the care people receive shouldn’t be determined by an investor’s bottom line. My HOT Act will shine a light on the dangers of private equity in our health care system and move us toward accountability for providers and patients.”

Private fairness entrenchment in our well being care system is simply getting worse. In 2021, non-public fairness companies funneled $206 billion into 1,400 well being care acquisitions. When non-public fairness invests in a healthcare facility, they usually lower workers, carry out extra difficult and dear procedures on sufferers than obligatory, strip the care middle of belongings, let it fail when now not worthwhile, then shut and promote it to builders. These actions serve non-public fairness’s solely aim, to make income, whereas inflicting irreparable hurt to sufferers. 

“Wall Street vultures are swooping down and picking apart health care providers, making a broken health care system even worse,” stated Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen. “This bill would help us finally begin to identify the private equity vultures that are lowering the quality of care across the nation. It is a crucial first step in creating accountability and protecting patients.”

“Despite a track record that includes looting safety net hospitals, saddling patients with obscene surprise medical bills, and leaving nursing homes understaffed and residents neglected, private equity investment in healthcare remains hidden in the shadows,” stated Eileen O’Grady, Director of Healthcare Research at PESP. “The private equity business model aims to double or triple an investment in just 3-5 years, funding massive payouts for wealthy investors at the expense of the quality of care patients receive. In the worst cases, these companies have free reign to use healthcare providers as their personal piggy banks. The Healthcare Ownership Transparency Act will bring these shadowy Wall Street actors and their questionable practices to light, so they can no longer raid critical healthcare infrastructure with impunity.”

“Private equity is about short-term profits, nothing more,” stated Diane Archer, Just Care USA. “Ensuring people get needed care is about investing for the long-term. The HOT Act would allow the administration to guard against private equity health care acquisitions until more is understood about their consequences.”

The Healthcare Ownership Transparency Act would:

• Require the disclosure of data from non-public fairness funds concerned in healthcare together with the identities of these with pursuits within the fund and their possession pursuits, the debt held by the fund and its lined healthcare companies, the efficiency of the portfolio corporations, and costs and funds collected by the agency, and all political spending associated to healthcare by the non-public fairness fund and associates. Disclosure would happen by way of the Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS), a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) supplier enrollment and revalidation course of.

• Direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to jot down a report on how healthcare consolidation and personal fairness contribute to numerous well being high quality and value indicators, together with value to cost ratios, payor combine, high quality scores, regulation compliance violations, staffing ranges and ratios, and worker wages amongst others.

• Direct the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create a process drive to determine finest practices and supply regulatory and legislative suggestions to Congress to deal with the opposed results of healthcare consolidation and personal fairness’s involvement in healthcare.

• Allow the Secretary to ban non-public fairness companies from gaining management of lined healthcare companies till the results of personal fairness possession on healthcare entities are understood by the duty drive.

Jayapal has been a longtime advocate for stopping the privatization of our well being care system. Last month, she led 70 lawmakers in calling on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement reforms to Medicare Advantage (MA) to enhance well being take care of seniors and folks with disabilities. Unlike conventional Medicare, MA plans are administered by non-public insurers and in recent times have been discovered to be fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse, too usually placing company pursuits over affected person outcomes. She can be the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All Act.