Jun 3, 2026 · 40 min · 12 segments
Private equity investment continues to expand across US health care. Current estimates put private equity ownership at almost 10% of hospitals and more than one-fifth of for-profit hospitals…
Sneha KannanGuest
Derek AngusHost
The hard part is that there are no studies of which I'm aware showing clear, unequivocal benefit to private equity investment in healthcare.
There are neutral studies, there are studies that either hint at or show harm, but there's nothing that shows sort of unequivocal, incontrovertible positives.
Private equity and healthcare, two terms that don't really sound like they naturally belong together.
But private equity has been acquiring a growing share of US healthcare in recent years.
Current estimates put private equity ownership at over 8% of all hospitals and over 22% of all for-profit hospitals.
Private equity firms have also purchased many private practices, physician practices, nursing homes, opiate treatment centers, and more.
Should we care about this? How does private equity affect patient care? How does it affect the well-being of employees who work in healthcare institutions? And how is it affecting the healthcare landscape at large? Hi, I'm Derek Angus.
Today, I'm chatting with my friend and colleague, Dr. Sneha Kannan, an assistant professor in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on the role of private equity in healthcare.
My goal is to try to better understand the complex and growing relationship between private equity and healthcare.
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The hard part is that there are no studies of which I'm aware showing clear, unequivocal benefit to private equity investment in healthcare.
There are neutral studies, there are studies that either hint at or show harm, but there's nothing that shows sort of unequivocal, incontrovertible positives.
Private equity and healthcare, two terms that don't really sound like they naturally belong together.
But private equity has been acquiring a growing share of US healthcare in recent years.
Current estimates put private equity ownership at over 8% of all hospitals and over 22% of all for-profit hospitals.
Private equity firms have also purchased many private practices, physician practices, nursing homes, opiate treatment centers, and more.
Should we care about this? How does private equity affect patient care? How does it affect the well-being of employees who work in healthcare institutions? And how is it affecting the healthcare landscape at large? Hi, I'm Derek Angus.
Today, I'm chatting with my friend and colleague, Dr. Sneha Kannan, an assistant professor in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on the role of private equity in healthcare.
My goal is to try to better understand the complex and growing relationship between private equity and healthcare.