The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed legislation that would give the state’s attorney general more authority to review and potentially block healthcare mergers and acquisitions.
The bill would also prohibit healthcare sale-leaseback arrangements by private equity firms and require healthcare organizations to disclose financial and operational details before finalizing major deals.
The legislation was introduced May 13, following Los Angeles-based private equity firm Prospect Medical Holdings’ decision to close Upland, Pa.-based Crozer Health.
State Rep. Carol Kazeem — the bill’s sponsor — said in a June 11 news release that the “abrupt closure of Crozer Health System’s two remaining hospitals has made Delaware County a health care desert, resulting in hundreds of thousands of our residents without access to local medical care and negatively impacting our economy by leaving thousands of people without jobs.”
“Since there’s been no law on the books to oversee private equity firms’ purchase of our hospitals and nursing homes, they’ve been allowed to repeatedly gut them and walk away with the profit,” she said.
A similar bill was introduced last year and was also passed by the House, but the Pennsylvania Senate failed to bring it up to vote, according to the release. The Senate is currently considering companion legislation.
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