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Committee advances Health Care Accountability measures after presentations on private equity; bill laid over
Summary
Lawmakers heard research and frontline testimony about private equity's role in health care during consideration of HF 2779 (Health Care Accountability Act); the committee adopted technical amendment DE1 and laid the bill over for further work on disclosure and guardrails.
The House Finance and Policy Committee on March 2 held a hearing on House File 2779, the Health Care Accountability Act, centered on transparency and limits on nonmedical control in health-care decision-making amid growing private equity (PE) investment.
A presenter identified as an economist from Brown University told the committee that private equity has invested heavily in health care nationally—"over $1 trillion" in recent decades—and described PE strategies (leveraged buyouts, platform/add-on rollups), limited disclosure requirements and mixed evidence that PE raises costs and can harm quality in some settings. The presenter said available studies show PE involvement in outpatient practices can increase costs by 10–26% and that PE ownership in certain settings, such as nursing homes and hospitals, has been associated with worse patient outcomes in some research.
Sam Brooks of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care said PE ownership correlates with staffing reductions, increased deficiencies and financial instability, citing recent high-profile bankruptcies and urging Minnesota to adopt disclosure and spending guardrails to protect residents.
The committee adopted a DE1 amendment by voice vote that makes technical corrections and incorporates an earlier informal endorsement into the bill packet. Supporters said HF 2779 would force clarity about ownership, financing and corporate relationships in clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and other care sites so regulators, payers and the public can see who controls decisions that affect patients.
Frontline clinicians described the operational pressure after PE investment: Dr. Amy Gilbert said her time in an investor-owned clinic shortened visits and prioritized coding and revenue targets over training and patient care; Dana Seifert (physical therapist) described patients kept on services for billing purposes and others discharged early because of insurance limits.
Members asked for clarification on exhibits and examples of complex ownership structures; a representative for a local nonprofit health system (Sanford) answered questions and said Sanford is a nonprofit and that some exhibit pages were illustrative of complexity rather than direct evidence of PE ownership.
The committee laid HF 2779, as amended, over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. Committee members said they would continue to refine language and raised the need to ensure the bill targets harmful extraction without blocking needed capital for smaller providers.
Next steps: the bill sponsor offered to meet with colleagues to discuss specific language; the committee requested continued technical work on definitions and disclosure requirements.
