Murphy, Scanlon Introduce Bicameral Bill to Ban Private Equity From Owning Nurses and Hospitals

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.-5) on Monday introduced the Take Back Our Hospitals Act, a bill to effectively ban private equity ownership of hospitals and nursing homes by making them ineligible to receive Medicare funding. U.S. U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate.

More than 400 hospitals and nursing homes are currently owned and operated by private equity firms, despite overwhelming research revealing disastrous outcomes for patients and workers. After private equity takeovers, hospitals and nursing homes routinely slash services, staffing, and supplies, and upcharge patients while degrading the quality of care. Patients in private equity-owned hospitals are more likely to experience infections and complications while elderly patients living in nursing homes owned by private equity face a 11% higher mortality rate. Private equity firms follow a 'buy, strip, flip' playbook to reap short-term profits, and sell off what's left, leaving patients and entire communities to deal with the life-or-death consequences.

As Trump's health care cuts through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act continue to cause hospital, nursing home, and health care facility closures nationwide - totaling over 750 closures to date - private equity is in prime position to take over financially distressed providers throughout the country. The Take Back Our Hospitals Act would ensure private equity cannot wreak further havoc on patients and communities already reeling from the Trump administration's health care catastrophe.

"Private equity's general business model is pretty simple: find hospitals that are in dire financial straits, make promises to fix things and then squeeze every cent they can out of patients before leaving communities to deal with the wreckage," said Murphy. "I saw this happen in Connecticut and it was devastating for patients and for the doctors and nurses who were desperately trying to take care of people as facilities were falling apart and supplies ran short. Patient care, not profit, should be the priority in hospital and nursing home care, and my legislation would get these firms out of health care and allow hospitals and nursing homes to put care first."

"What happened to Crozer Health is a cautionary tale for communities all over the country. Prospect Medical Holdings, a private equity firm, acquired the Crozer Health system, promising increased investment and better care. Instead, it drove Crozer into bankruptcy, closing four hospitals, laying off 2,600 health care professionals, and leaving Delaware County with just two hospitals to serve its 585,000 residents," said Scanlon. "This is what happens when private equity treats our hospitals as cash cows. We cannot allow Wall Street's race for profits to shutter more hospitals and nursing homes. The Take Back Our Hospitals Act will ensure that hospitals and nursing homes exist to serve patients, not Wall Street investors."

"By preventing private equity-owned hospitals and nursing homes from qualifying for Medicare, this bill prioritizes health care facilities and ensures they can provide Americans with the quality care they deserve. Putting profits over patients, private equity firms are buying up hospitals and nursing homes and wreaking havoc on the facilities-slashing resources and staffing and leaving communities with inadequate care and services. With the Take Back Our Hospitals Act, we crack down on corporate greed devastating health care facilities and ensure hospitals and nursing homes receive the support they need to provide proper treatment for patients," said Blumenthal.

"Sick patients should never be used to turn healthy profits. But that's exactly what is happening in Oregon and across the nation as greedy corporate executives turn hospitals and nursing homes into profit centers," said Merkley. "We must crack down on private equity, whose greed is destroying our health care system for executives' and shareholders' profit, while patients are stuck footing the bill."

Senator Murphy has emerged as one of the U.S. Senate's leading voices against private equity's dominance of our health care system. This week, he published the report, Aided and Abetted: How the Trump Administration is Helping Private Equity Take Over Health Care, exposing the corrupt alliance between private equity and the Trump administration, which has given private equity firms carte blanche to expand and act without accountability. Alongside the Take Back Our Hospitals Act, Murphy and Scanlon are also introducing The Patient Safety and Whistleblower Protections Act to grant health care workers whistleblower protections, ensuring they can report misconduct and neglect at private equity-owned health care facilities without fear of retaliation.

For full text of the bill click here.