In yet another example of the dangers of healthcare profiteering, a study published in journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that hospitals that were bought out by private equity firms experienced a significant increase in emergency room patient deaths compared to hospitals that were not.

But why?

According to researchers Kannan et al., “After acquisition, private equity hospitals reduced ED salary expenditures by 18.2% (−$12.63 per inpatient bed day; 95% CI, −$22.74 to −$2.52; P = 0.015) and ICU salary expenditures by 15.9% (−$8.46 per inpatient bed day, CI, −$13.21 to −$3.72; P < 0.001) relative to control. This occurred alongside average hospital-wide reductions in full-time employees by 11.6% and salary expenditures by 16.6%, relative to control.”

In other words, private equity firms pushed the hospitals they own to understaff their emergency departments in order to make their investments more profitable, but that came at the cost of patients’ lives..