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Scientific Oral Presentations

Business of Medicine/Practice Management

Session: Scientific Oral Presentations - Business of Medicine/Practice Management

How the Workforce Tables Turn: Trends in Private Equity Owned Otolaryngology Practices' Clinician Distribution

Sunday, September 29, 2024
2:36 PM – 2:42 PM EDT
Location: MBCC, 233
Disclosure(s):
Shravan Asthana, BS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Daron Excel, BS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Hemali P. Shah, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Abhinav A. Talwar, MD, MBA:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Stephanie S. Smith, MD, MS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: As otolaryngology increasingly attracts private equity (PE) investors, it is crucial to study how these acquisitions shape the clinical workforce.

Methods: A comprehensive market database, Pitchbook (Seattle, WA), was queried utilizing comprehensive keywords for outpatient otolaryngology practices acquired by PE firms from 2010-2023. Acquisitions were manually verified using practice websites. An open-source website archive service, WayBack Machine, was utilized to track workforce history of practicing otolaryngologist physicians, audiologists (AuDs), and advanced practice providers (APPs) at these outpatient practices and then subjected to linear regression and Pearson correlation test analysis.

Results: Of the 621 PE deals from 2010 to 2023 initially identified, 25 otolaryngology practices were determined to have been acquired by PE from 2018-2023. Acquisitions predominantly occurred in 2020 (8, 32%) and 2023 (7, 28%), and were based in the South (17, 68%) or Midwest (8, 32%) regions. From 2018-2023, total practice locations increased by 32.0% (N = 194 to N = 256), and the total clinician pool increased by 17.9% (N = 901 to N = 1,007). While physicians (N = 500 to N = 517, r = 0.59, p = 0.213) and AuDs (N = 229 to N = 242, r = 0.34, p = 0.507) increased nonlinearly, the increase in APPs was strongly linear (N = 172 to N = 248, r = 0.95, p = 0.003). However, as a proportion of the total pool there was a relative decrease in physicians (55.5% to 51.3%) and audiologists (25.4% to 24.0%) offset by a relative increase in APPs (19.1% to 24.6%).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest a disproportionate increase in APPs relative to physicians and AUDs in PE acquired outpatient otolaryngology practices. Further analyses should investigate how these trends might impact care cost and quality.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • SA

    Shravan Asthana, BS

    Medical Student
    Feinberg School of Medicine
    Chicago, IL, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Daron Excel, BS

    Medical Student
    Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
    Chicago, IL, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • Hemali P. Shah, MD

    Resident Physician
    Medstar Georgetown University Hospital
    Washington, DC, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • Abhinav A. Talwar, MD, MBA

    Resident Physician
    Northwestern Memorial Hospital
    Roslyn, New York, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Stephanie S. Smith, MD, MS

    Assistant Professor
    Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
    Chicago, IL, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.