Massachusetts lawmakers are holding a hearing Monday to discuss private equity ownership in healthcare.
This comes as Steward Health Care, which owns nine hospitals in Massachusetts is in the middle of a financial crisis.
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The company is now considering pulling out of the state. If this happens, health care will be far less accessible for hundreds of thousands of people.
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Gov. Maura Healey has placed the blame on the company's management.
On Monday, lawmakers heard from a top government watchdog who warned that industry consolidation, for-profit ownership and private equity investment in healthcare "will only continue."
Health Policy Commission Executive Director David Seltz presented data showing that the share of health care transactions in Massachusetts involving private equity interests has more than doubled in recent years.
The agency examined 182 provider purchases and sales between 2013 and 2023. Between 2013 and 2016, Seltz said, private equity was involved in about 25% of transactions. That jumped to 47% of transactions between 2017 and 2020 and 63% between 2020 and 2023.
Health Policy Commission leaders discussed similar data in December, before the problems at Steward erupted into public view and accelerated calls for reform.
"Our attention should also be focused on the future because the trends of private equity, for-profit ownership and consolidation of all types into larger, horizontally and vertically integrated health systems will only continue in Massachusetts and across the country," Seltz told the Health Care Financing Committee on Monday.
He later added, "The need for urgent action could not be greater."
State House News Service contributed to this report.
