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Objective:

To characterize the extent of private equity investment affecting surgical care.

Summary Background Data:

Over the last decade, investor-backed, for-profit private equity groups have invested in healthcare at an unprecedented rate, but the breadth of these investments affecting surgical practice remains largely unknown.

Methods:

Four nationally representative databases were used to identify all merger/acquisitions involving surgical practices between 2015-2019, determine private equity investment in those transactions, and link the acquisitions with a physician dataset.

Results:

1,542 unique transactions were identified, of which 539 were financed by private equity. 58 transactions were then classified into their respective categories within surgical care: digestive disease, orthopedics, urology, vascular surgery, and plastic/cosmetic surgery. These transactions accounted for 199 practice sites and 1,405 …