Department of Urology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
Department of Urology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Urology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
Urology. 2022 Sep;167:121-127. doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2022.03.045. Epub 2022 Jun 6.
To assess whether private equity (PE) acquisitions of urology practices were associated with changes in Medicare payments and patient volume.
We identified PE acquisitions of urology practices through financial databases, industry news outlets, practice websites, and Google search. Using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service's Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data: Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File (2012-2019), we conducted descriptive statistics and trends analysis to examine whether PE acquisition was associated with changes in Medicare payments and patient volume in comparison to non-PE affiliated urologists within the same states.
We identified PE acquisitions of 10 independent urology practices across 6 states during the study period. In the preacquisition period, urologists later joining private-equity groups received greater mean inflation-adjusted Medicare payments ($246,977 vs $160,038; P <.001) and had greater patient volume (839.7 vs 674.2 patients; P = .001) than urologists who did not. In the postacquisition period, PE affiliated urologists had an 11.0% (95% CI: -0.2% to 22.3%) increase in inflation-adjusted Medicare payments (P = .054) and a 12.5% (95% CI: 6.5%-18.6%) increase in patient volume (P <.001). Non-PE affiliated urologists exhibited a 6% decline in Medicare payments (P <.001) and a 2.7% increase in patient volume (P <.001).
PE affiliated urologists exhibited increases in Medicare payments even prior to acquisition, in contrast to declines for geographically similar, non-PE urologists. These findings may highlight characteristics of practices targeted by PE firms and local practice trends that may further diverge following acquisition.
评估私募股权投资（PE）收购泌尿科诊所是否与医疗保险支付和患者数量的变化有关。
我们通过财务数据库、行业新闻媒体、诊所网站和谷歌搜索，确定了泌尿科诊所的 PE 收购。利用医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心的 Medicare 提供者利用和支付数据：医师和其他供应商公共使用文件（2012-2019 年），我们进行了描述性统计和趋势分析，以检验在相同州内，与非 PE 附属泌尿科医生相比，PE 收购是否与医疗保险支付和患者数量的变化有关。
我们在研究期间确定了六个州的 10 个独立泌尿科诊所的 PE 收购。在收购前时期，后来加入私募股权集团的泌尿科医生获得的平均通胀调整后医疗保险支付更高（$246,977 与 $160,038；P <.001），患者数量也更多（839.7 与 674.2 名患者；P =.001）。在收购后时期，PE 附属泌尿科医生的通胀调整后医疗保险支付增加了 11.0%（95% CI：-0.2%至 22.3%）（P =.054），患者数量增加了 12.5%（95% CI：6.5%-18.6%）（P <.001）。非 PE 附属泌尿科医生的医疗保险支付下降了 6%（P <.001），患者数量增加了 2.7%（P <.001）。
与地理位置相似的非 PE 泌尿科医生的医疗保险支付下降相比，PE 附属泌尿科医生在收购前就表现出医疗保险支付的增长。这些发现可能突出了被 PE 公司收购的诊所的特点和当地的实践趋势，这些趋势在收购后可能会进一步分化。
