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Sponsor seeks AG review of private equity hospital deals; AG warns of capacity and confidentiality trade-offs
Summary
A prime sponsor urged the Senate committee to pass SB 666 to require advance notice and transparency when private equity buys health-care providers. The attorney general supported the goals but said the bill’s 30-day review window and public reporting requirements could overwhelm staff and compromise confidential enforcement work.
A sponsor told the Senate Health & Human Services Committee that Senate Bill 666 would require advance notice and financial transparency when private equity firms seek to acquire health-care facilities, including disclosures of debt, management fees and executive payouts. The sponsor said the measure is intended to protect access to care and clinical judgment in communities at risk of closures after private-equity ownership.
The sponsor argued that private equity often prioritizes short-term returns over long-term stability and cited Steward Healthcareas a recent example: "In 2024, Steward filed for bankruptcy, closing 2 hospitals and leaving communities without emergency care," the sponsor said in testimony, urging the committee to "recommend Senate Bill 666 ought to pass."
Why it matters: Supporters say the obligation to notify state authorities would give regulators an early chance to evaluate competition, access and financial stability before transactions move forward. Opponents warned about duplicating existing merger review processes and creating additional cost and delay for transactions that already fall under charitable-trust or antitrust review.
Alexandra Sosnowski, Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, told the committee she and her staff generally support the billbut flagged practical problems. The AGoffice would need more staff and analytic tools to meet the billrequirements: "This is one of those bills you don't know what you don't know," she said, noting that physician practices and small-group transactions currently occur below the level where the office receives mandatory notice.
Sosnowski also said a required 30-day review is likely too short to assess competition, cost, access and quality comprehensively and added that a mandated public annual report could undercut the confidentiality the office needs for candid investigations. She recommended working with the sponsor to narrow triggers and build a realistic timeline and staffing plan. "Those factors alone could not be completed in 30 days even if we had the staff resources," she told the committee.
Hospitals and associations pressed for changes. Ben Bradley of the New Hampshire Hospital Association said his group opposed the bill "as introduced," warning it would layer parallel requirements on top of existing statutory reviews and could add costs and delays that harm access to care. Other hospital speakers described tight financial margins in rural facilities and urged careful drafting so the law targets private-equity harms without impeding legitimate transactions.
What comes next: Committee members asked the AGto prepare suggested language and clarifications; sponsors signaled openness to amendments. The committee did not vote on the bill at the hearing and requested follow-up work on timing, definitions and fiscal impacts.
