How to tell if a hospital is owned by private equity

Private equity firms own hundreds of U.S. hospitals, but they rarely put their name on the door. Here's how to find out who really owns a hospital near you.

Why it's hard to tell

A Brown University researcher told a 2024 Senate hearing that it is "virtually impossible" for patients to identify whether a neighborhood hospital is owned by private equity. There are three reasons:

• Layers of companies. A private equity firm rarely buys a hospital directly. Its fund owns a holding company, which owns another company, which owns the hospital, often with an LLC created just for the deal.
• No required label. Hospitals report their owners to Medicare and can tick a box saying an owner is a private equity company, but many leave it blank.
• Frequent sales. Private equity firms usually sell within a few years, so any list can go out of date.

Step 1: Search the hospital on the map

Enter the hospital's name, your city or your ZIP code on the Who Owns Your Hospital? map, or press "Use my location". Each hospital is colored by what we found: red for confirmed private equity, yellow for possible private equity, and green, blue or gray for nonprofit, government or other owners. Click a hospital to see the owners it reported to Medicare, the private equity firm (if any), and the evidence.

Step 2: Check Medicare's ownership records

Since late 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published the ownership of every hospital enrolled in Medicare. To look a hospital up yourself:

1. Open the Hospital All Owners dataset on data.cms.gov.
2. Search for the hospital's legal name (it may differ from the name on the sign).
3. Read the owners listed with "5% or greater direct" or "indirect ownership interest". Indirect owners are the companies further up the chain, which is where private equity funds usually appear.
4. Check the yes/no columns for "private equity company" and "investment firm". A "Y" is the hospital's own answer; a blank doesn't rule private equity out.

Step 3: Follow the chain of parent companies

The hospital's direct owner is often a holding company or a hospital chain. Search for that company's name plus "acquired by" or "investors", and check its website for an "About" or "Investors" page. Names containing Capital Partners, Equity Partners, Fund, Holdings or ending in LP are worth a closer look.

Step 4: Confirm whether an owner is a private equity fund

Private investment funds register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Search the fund's name in SEC EDGAR: a Form D filing lists the fund type, and "Private Equity Fund" settles it. You can also look up the firm that manages the fund on adviserinfo.sec.gov.

Step 5: Check the Private Equity Stakeholder Project tracker

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project keeps a Private Equity Hospital Tracker built from industry data and news coverage. It's a good cross-check, but like any list it can miss recent deals.

Step 6: Check who staffs the ER and anesthesia

Even when a hospital itself isn't private equity owned, its emergency room, anesthesia or hospitalist doctors may work for a staffing company that is. The group's name is on your bill. Our map shows the main staffing group for each hospital and whether it's backed by private equity.

Warning signs (not proof)

• The hospital was recently sold to a company you've never heard of, or one with many layers of LLCs.
• The hospital's building was sold to a real estate investment trust and leased back (a "sale-leaseback").
• The owner was "created for acquisition", a box hospitals can tick on their Medicare ownership filing.

Why it matters

Private equity ownership is legal, and individual hospitals vary. But researchers have raised concerns. A 2023 study in JAMA compared 51 hospitals bought by private equity firms with 259 similar hospitals and found that, after acquisition, hospital-acquired complications among Medicare patients rose about 25%, including a 27% increase in falls and a 38% increase in central-line bloodstream infections. The study shows an association, not proof of cause (NIH summary).

Frequently asked questions

Who owns my hospital?

Search it on the map: each hospital shows the owners it reported to Medicare and whether any of them is a private equity firm. For the original records, use Medicare's Hospital All Owners data (step 2).

Does private equity own the hospital near me?

Probably not, but it's worth checking: fewer than 4% of U.S. short-term acute care hospitals were private equity owned in 2024, according to Washington University researchers. Enter your ZIP code on the map to see the hospitals around you.

Is a for-profit hospital the same as a private equity owned hospital?

No. Many for-profit hospitals belong to publicly traded companies or physicians. A hospital is private equity owned when a private equity fund owns it or its parent company.

Can a nonprofit hospital involve private equity?

Sometimes. Nonprofit systems occasionally form joint ventures with companies backed by private equity, and many hospitals contract out emergency, anesthesia or hospitalist staffing to private-equity-backed groups.

Sources

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospital All Owners data.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ASPE), Hospital ownership (on the 2022 release of hospital ownership data).
• Kannan S, Bruch JD, Song Z. Changes in hospital adverse events and patient outcomes associated with private equity acquisition. JAMA. 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.23147. NIH summary.
• Washington University in St. Louis, Private equity owns less than 4% of U.S. hospitals.
• U.S. Senate (Sen. Elizabeth Warren), July 2024 hearing on private equity in health care.
• Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Private Equity Hospital Tracker.

Last updated October 21, 2026. Information may not be accurate; see our Privacy & Terms and Sources & Method.