HealthExec March 15, 2025
When physician practices are acquired by private equity firms, turnover increases, but the total number of clinicians hired by organizations also rises, according to a study published in Health Affairs. [1]
A research team from Brown University and Duke University analyzed clinician-level employment records from 200 ophthalmology practices acquired by private equity investors, using a “difference-in-differences” study design to measure staffing changes between 2014 and 2021.
In total, the practices employed 1,980 clinicians.
By matching the records to a control group of unacquired practices of a similar type and from the same time period, those taken over by private equity increased clinician employment by 46.8% within three years.
The authors said most of the growth came from newly...