Association of Private Equity Firm Acquisition of Ophthalmology Practices with Medicare Spending and Use of Ophthalmology Services.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Private equity (PE) firms increasingly are acquiring ophthalmology practices; little is known of their influence on care use and spending. We studied changes in use and Medicare spending after PE acquisition.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Participants

Seven hundred sixty-two clinicians in 123 practices acquired by PE between 2017 and 2018 and 34 807 clinicians in 20 549 never-acquired practices.

Methods

We analyzed Medicare fee-for-service claims (2012-2019) combined with a novel national database of PE acquisitions of ophthalmology practices using a difference-in-differences method within an event study framework to compare changes after a practice was acquired with changes in practices that were not acquired.

Main outcome measures

Numbers

SUBMITTER: Braun RT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10922192 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature