PAOrtho Successfully Exempts Physician-Owned Facilities from Private Equity Legislation

House Bill 1460 Printer’s Number 3687, sponsored by Representative Lisa Borowski (D, Delaware), is intended to protect communities from hospital closures and the attendant loss of healthcare access to residents as well as the dislocation of healthcare employees as happened in the cities of Chester and Sharon. The bill provides the Office of Attorney General (OAG) review and approval powers over healthcare facility and practice mergers and acquisitions.

The Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society (PAOrtho) believes that protecting communities and workers from private equity acquisition of acute care general hospitals is an important and necessary legislative action. Many orthopaedic surgeons we adversely affected by the abrupt closures of Crozer-Chester and Sharon Regional hospitals. HB 1460 as introduced, however, cast its net far too broadly to include physician-owned specialty hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities (ASFs). Other non-orthopaedic facilities captured by HB 1460 included psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, long-term care nursing facilities, cancer treatment centers using radiation therapy on an ambulatory basis, inpatient drug and alcohol treatment facilities, and hospice facilities. Through PAOrtho work, physician-owned specialty hospitals and ASFs are now excluded from HB 1460’s provisions.