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Scientific Oral Presentations

Business of Medicine/Practice Management

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

Private Equity in Otolaryngology: What Is the Impact on Medicare Payments

Sunday, September 29, 2024
2:30 PM – 2:36 PM EDT
Location: MBCC, 233
Disclosure(s):
Roshan Dongre, BS:

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

Najm S. Khan, MBS:

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

Aatin K. Dhanda, MD:

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

Masayoshi Takashima, MD:

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

Omar G. Ahmed, MD:

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

Introduction: There has been an increase in the acquisition of medical practices by private equity (PE) firms in multiple specialties including otolaryngology – head and neck surgery (OHNS). It is unclear if PE acquisition is associated with changes practice patterns. This study aims to assess whether PE acquisitions of OHNS practices are associated with changes in Medicare payments and procedure volume.

Methods: PE acquisitions of OHNS practices were determined using the PitchBook and CapitalIQ databases. A retrospective analysis of publicly available data from the Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data File was conducted between 2016-2021. Data was filtered to only include OHNS procedures and records were identified as PE-affiliated based on practice address. Included non-PE affiliated practices were those in states where a PE acquisition occurred and index point was the year PE acquired a practice in the same state. For both groups, Medicare payments for all procedures were totaled and averaged. PE-affiliated and non-PE affiliated practices were compared pre and post-acquisition using t-tests.

Results: We identified seven private equity acquisitions of independent OHNS practices across seven states. In the pre-acquisition period, there was a significant difference in average annual procedure volume (102.7 Non-PE vs 77.6 PE; p = 0.00005) and average Medicare payout ($70.81 Non-PE vs $90.42 PE; p = 0.009). Although there was no difference in procedure volume in the post-acquisition period (95.93 Non-PE vs 80.46 PE; p = 0.07), a significant difference in average payout was noted ($73.5 Non-PE vs $118.99 PE; p = 0.0004).

Conclusions: Compared to practices without acquisition, PE-acquired OHNS practices had increases in Medicare payments with no difference in procedure volume after acquisition. This finding suggests that private equity may emphasize performing high-payout procedures rather than increasing the procedure volume. Future research to understand reasons for changes in practice patterns after acquisition is needed.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Roshan Dongre, BS

    Medical Student
    Texas A&M School of Engineering Medicine
    Sugar Land, TX, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Najm S. Khan, MBS

    Medical Student
    Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery / Houston Methodist Hospital
    Piscataway, NJ, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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

  • AD

    Aatin K. Dhanda, MD

    Resident
    Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery / Houston Methodist Hospital
    Houston, Texas, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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

  • Masayoshi Takashima, MD

    Professor and Chair, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
    Houston Methodist Academic Institute / Houston Methodist Hospital
    Houston, Texas, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Omar G. Ahmed, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Houston Methodist, Houston, TX, USA
    Houston, TX, United States

    Disclosure(s):

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