Here are five things to know about the study:
1. Harvard University researchers used CMS data from December 2014 to December 2020, specifically evaluating employment changes for physicians at PE-exiting practices sold between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2018. They compared this data with physicians in practices not sold by PE owners but within the same specialty, region, practice size and time period.
2. Of the 1,215 physicians included in the study, those in PE-exiting practices were 16.5 percentage points less likely to continue working in that practice 2 years after exit compared with their counterparts in practices that were not sold by PE.
3. These physicians were also 10.1 percentage points more likely to join a large practice, as defined by 120 physicians or more, after leaving their practice.
4. Dermatology was the specialty with the most physicians departing from practices after PE exits with 216 physicians, followed by family medicine with 94 physicians.
5. “The increase in physician turnover and consolidation following PE exits has important implications for patients, physicians, investors, and physician markets, including disruption for practices and patients and likely for increases in costs of care,” Leemore Dafny, PhD, a professor with the Harvard Business School, and co-authors wrote in the study.
