STAT+: Venture capitalists want to own hospitals. Can they do better than private equity?
Private equity's less than stellar track record as owners of health systems raises red flags about venture capitalists' ability to balance their desire for ROI with patient well-being.
General Catalyst’s plan to take over a hospital in the coming months could be the first of many such deals, driven by financially strained hospitals looking for saviors, and venture capitalists convinced that they have the technology solutions for fixing the health care sector’s vexing problems.
The venture firm announced plans in October to acquire a health system and then use it as a proving ground for technology that its portfolio companies sell, including generative artificial intelligence-powered solutions applied to health care problems. The move — a result of industry-wide frustration with health systems’ risk aversion and hesitation to adopt new technology — also comes at a time when health tech startups that raised millions of venture dollars during the pandemic’s early stages are now scrambling to find customers.
Given workforce shortages, clinician burnout, rising drug costs, and a surging aging population, “it’s not that big a leap to say that more such purchases are going to occur,” said Robert Klitzman, a Columbia psychiatry professor and director of its bioethics masters program. “Hospitals are in a very tough spot,” he said, adding, “There may be hospitals that think, ‘Oh, great, someone wants to buy us.’”
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