Effect of Private Equity Ownership on Access to Outpatient Urologic Cancer Care in Medicare Recipients

To compare appointment availability and wait times between private equity-owned and non-private equity-owned urology clinics for 2 common urologic complaints. We identified all PE-owned urology clinic locations as of June 2022 (n = 390). For each PE-owned location, a geographically matched, non-PE-o...

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Veröffentlicht in:Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.) N.J.), 2024-11, Vol.193, p.99-104
Hauptverfasser: Alameddine, Mitchell, Clarkberg, Violet, Flinn, John, Kisty, Stephen, Krampe, Noah, Shah, Ashti, Orikogbo, Oluwaseun, Watts, Alex C., Alcorn, Mia, Stencel, Michael G., Jacobs, Bruce L., Davies, Benjamin J.
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:To compare appointment availability and wait times between private equity-owned and non-private equity-owned urology clinics for 2 common urologic complaints. We identified all PE-owned urology clinic locations as of June 2022 (n = 390). For each PE-owned location, a geographically matched, non-PE-owned clinic was identified. Each office was called using a “secret shopper” method with a standardized script, requesting an appointment on behalf of their Medicare-aged father for evaluation of gross hematuria or elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The primary outcome was appointment availability, and the secondary outcome was wait time until soonest appointment. PE-owned and non-PE-owned clinics treated the presenting complaints with similar frequency (gross hematuria: 85% vs 88%, P = .3, elevated PSA: 93% vs 94%, P = .5). Wait time in days until the next available appointment was similar for PE-owned clinics compared to non-PE clinics for both complaints (gross hematuria: 16 vs 13, P = .06, elevated PSA: 18 vs 19, P = .7). If available, the time in days until the soonest next appointment with an advanced practice provider was also similar between PE-owned and non-PE clinics (gross hematuria: 13 vs 11, P = .07, elevated PSA: 13 vs 12, P = .6). Overall, there were no large-scale differences in access to outpatient urologic care between PE-owned clinics and non-PE-owned clinics. Access to care in PE-owned clinics is likely clinically similar to geographic-matched controls for Medicare patients with gross hematuria or elevated PSA.
ISSN:0090-4295
1527-9995
1527-9995
DOI:10.1016/j.urology.2024.08.014