A new study by Harvard researchers has come up with the conclusion that patients at private-equity-owned hospitals were more likely to suffer from infections. This comes after the assumption that patients at such facilities are looked after in a better way.
In addition, the higher costs that these facilities entitle for its services are supposedly not delivered. This conclusion comes from a decade-long observation of private-equity firms who have invested at least $1 trillion in such health companies (Source: NBC News).
The researchers found that these patients at such private owned facilities were more likely to fall ill and develop surgical site infections. In addition, they were also more likely to report more falls that can cause serious injury to the patients.
The Journal of American Medical Association published this study asserting that patients at such private facilities pay a higher fees which warrants a safer environment that can keep them healthy.
Poor patient health outcomes are reported in such facilities as per the study. Moreover, the lack of research in this area is why the grave mistake has been going unnoticed on a large scale. Every year, the majority of the patients in hospitals report being injured due to negligence of the staff. These can be in the form of falling while moving without supervision or developing an infection due to poor dressing practices.
The study found that nearly 200 of the non-private equity hospitals were bought by private-equity firms. In addition, it was also found that nearly 40% of the emergency department staff at hospitals were managed by private-equity backed staffing companies.
Shockingly, these hospitals that were bought by private-equity firms saw a 25% rise in the nosocomial infection or hospital-acquired infections. Where the number of falls rose to 27% with nearly 54% rise in surgical site infections.
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