WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a fierce advocate of rural healthcare, wrote to four private companies with investments in the Ottumwa Regional Health Center in Ottumwa, Iowa, following the egregious assault of nine female patients by a nurse practitioner at the hospital. In the letter, Grassley asks each company for a review of their financial transactions related to Ottumwa Regional, which has been part of a series of opaque and questionable acquisitions, mergers and other related-party transactions at the direction of these companies.
“The constant selling and reselling of hospital assets by private equity, private capital, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and other related entities raises questions with respect to whether these financial maneuvers have negatively impacted the resources and thereby the care our nation’s rural hospitals provide to their patients,” Grassley wrote.
“When I see the type of tragic lapses that occurred at Ottumwa Regional…it raises serious questions with respect to whether these hospitals have the right resources or if they are being loaded with overwhelming amounts of debt to the point where they are forced to shift money away from patient care,” Grassley continued. “When multiple financial transactions involving the same hospital systems occur, patients can get lost in the equation.”
Grassley continues to push for improved accountability of private equity in healthcare centers. Earlier this month, he
sent a letter urging the Department of Health and Human Services to finalize a rule requiring greater transparency of private equity ownership in nursing homes.
The full text of the letter can be found
HERE.
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