For many years, Conemaugh Health System, a hospital chain in west central Pennsylvania, was a nonprofit entity, serving patients in the small communities of Johnstown, Hastings, Meyersdale and Roaring Spring. Today, it is a for-profit system owned in part by Apollo Global Management, one of the largest private-equity firms in the United States. Since that ownership change in 2018, involving a hospital chain known as LifePoint Health, care at the health system has declined, three patients say.
2% of hospitals in Pennsylvania are controlled by private-equity firms, the new state risk index shows, far below the almost 25% of hospitals in New Mexico controlled by private equity. But the readmission rate after discharge among those Pennsylvania hospitals is 5% higher than the national average, the risk index says.