This article explains how some investment practices of private equity firms generate profit by taking advantage of inequitably underserved patients in the US health care system.
As private equity funds acquire a growing share of America’s health care system, their focus has expanded from hospitals and nursing homes to physician practices.
Private equity firms exacerbate health inequity by driving hospital closures in historically underserved communities. Now nonprofit health systems are also vulnerable.
AMA J Ethics. 2025;27(5):E354-360. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2025.354.
Inequity in access to care and life expectancy among the highest and lowest income earners has grown, along with profits of nonclinical actors in health care.
AMA J Ethics. 2025;27(5):E305-307. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2025.305.