Brown University Launches Database Mapping Private Equity's Expansion in American Healthcare

Researchers at Brown University have created an interactive mapping tool that catalogs over 6,000 private equity investments in U.S. healthcare from 2015 to 2023, covering physician practices and hospital acquisitions across all states. The tracker allows policymakers, journalists, and researchers to examine investment patterns by geographic location, medical specialty, and time period to inform evidence-based policy decisions. The tool addresses a significant gap in transparency, as private equity transactions typically avoid public disclosure despite their growing influence on healthcare corporatization.

The tracker encompasses over 6,000 documented transactions spanning nine years, providing geographic granularity down to ZIP code level while enabling analysis by medical specialty. This comprehensive approach reveals distinct patterns: states with higher hospital employment of physicians show reduced private equity activity, while those with more independent practitioners attract greater consolidation efforts. Texas exemplifies this dynamic, with private equity-backed entities now employing approximately one-third of independent oncologists, compared to Indiana where hospital employment dominates the oncology market.

The research initiative emerged from collaboration between Brown University's Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research, the Commonwealth Fund, and the National Academy for State Health Policy. Researchers acknowledge the tracker may not capture every transaction, but position it as a foundational tool for identifying investment trends and filling a significant transparency gap created by private equity's historical lack of regulatory disclosure requirements.