The resident physicians losing out after private firms took over their hospitals

Liz Calhoun was halfway through her three year emergency physician training when she learnt from a text message that her hospital was closing in three months. She and the other 571 resident physicians at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia did not know how or where they would finish their training. In the end they didn’t have three months to figure it out: the training programme closed 30 days later.

Hahnemann, located in the heart of the city, was a “safety net” hospital, meaning that its staff provided care to patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. At the time of its closure in 2019, Hahnemann made headlines as the model for what can go wrong when a profit driven private equity firm takes over a hospital. In the years since, several other hospitals bought by private equity firms have abruptly closed, leaving their communities’ health, economies, and resident physicians in disarray.

Evidence shows that when a private equity firm takes over a hospital, the quality1 of care declines and costs2 for patients rise. Private equity ownership in healthcare also has harmful effects on medical education and the workforce, which is already suffering grave shortages in the US, according to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis.3

When Hahnemann closed, it left all its resident physicians and first year interns without an accredited programme, including 59 international students who had to find …