The last 10 years have been a time of tremendous change in U.S. healthcare. One of the key drivers of this change has been growing investment from private equity into both larger healthcare companies and, more recently, into specialty medical practices.
Although this activity is reported on and sometimes scrutinized, less often is any focus given to the positive impact that this inflow of capital has had, both for doctors and patients.
According to public reports, private equity acquisitions of healthcare-related businesses have risen from an estimated annual deal value of $41.5 billion in 2010 to more than $200 billion in 2021. PE firms have pumped more than $750 billion into U.S. healthcare during the past 10 years and this money has had an impact. These funds have helped unlock lifesaving treatments, such as mRNA vaccinations, helped to level the playing field between doctors and payers and created thousands of new jobs by funding research and development in the life sciences and expanded care in medical practices.