Last December, in Upper Darby, an 85,000-person suburban community outside of Philadelphia, many residents, when they entered “hospital” into their map app and rushed to their local hospital to seek urgent medical care, found that the emergency room—and indeed the entire Delaware County Memorial facility—had closed.
Far from unique, this story is horrifyingly familiar. Why? Private equity—that is, investor groups that operate outside of the stock market, thus being largely shielded from public investor scrutiny—plays a leading role. Understanding the role private equity is playing in health care is critical; only then can we begin to design solutions to the healthcare system that center public and community ownership.