Krista Harrison Publishes Study in Health Affairs on Rising Private Equity Acquisitions of Hospices and Opaque Ownership Trends

Krista Harrison, PhD, has published a study in Health Affairs titled: Private Equity Acquisitions Of Hospices Are Increasing; Ownership Remains Opaque. Enabled by a collaborative P01 grant, researchers at Mount Sinai, Lauren Hunt, PhD, RN, FNP, and Dr. Harrison used an economic data linked to Medicare data to identify private equity hospice acquisitions. We found that from 2015 to 2022, there were 124 acquisitions of US hospices by forty-seven PE firms. Although most PE firms acquired only one to two hospices, one firm acquired twenty-two hospices spanning ten states, and another acquired fourteen hos- pices spanning four states. This suggests that consolidation among the hospice industry is rap- idly occurring, with some PE firms becoming potentially large players. Given the influence of for-profit ownership on hospice quality, transparent data on private equity investment are fundamental to ensuring high-quality end-of-life care.