Juan Siliezar,
A new study from researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health highlights a push from private equity investors into autism therapy centers across the nation.
Private equity firms acquired more than 500 autism therapy centers across the U.S. over the past decade, with nearly 80% of acquisitions occurring over a four-year span.
That’s according to a new study from researchers at Brown University’s Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research.
Study author Yashaswini Singh, a health economist at Brown’s School of Public Health, said the work highlights how financial firms are rapidly moving into a sensitive area of health care with little public scrutiny or data on where this is happening or why.
“The big takeaway is that there is yet another segment of health care that has emerged as potentially profitable to private equity investors, and it is very distinct from where we have traditionally known investors to go, so the potential for harm can be a lot more serious,” Singh said. “We’re also dealing with children who are largely insured by Medicaid programs, so if private equity increases the intensity of care, what we’re looking at are impacts to state Medicaid budgets down the road.”