Private equity involvement in a rural hospital in Iowa raises questions over a possible link with the recent death of a hospital staff member there and the subsequent discovery of sexual assaults on several female patients, Sen. Chuck Grassley said March 17.
In a letter to those private equity companies and others, Mr. Grassley questioned whether multiple opaque investments in the Ottumwa Regional Health Center had possible links with a declining focus on patient care.
"When I see the 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 wrote. "When multiple financial transactions involving the same hospital systems occur, patients can get lost in the equation."
Devin Caraccio, MSN, ARNP, was found dead in an office at the Ottumwa Regional Health Center late last year, and subsequent investigation of his cellphone found videos indicating he had committed acts of sexual assault on nine patients while they were asleep or unconscious.
The potential problem of such private investment in rural hospitals is not one strictly limited to Iowa, Mr. Grassley said.
"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," he wrote in the letter.
The full text of the letter can be found here.