Washington DC [US], July 23 (ANI): A group of researchers has found that private equity investment, which is increasing in the healthcare industry, is often associated with higher costs for patients. The study was published in the BMJ. The study is considered to be the first systematic review of the process and the ability of the individual in the world of medicine. "In the last few decades, private equity activity in the health sector has exploded, with financial institutions buying hospitals, nursing homes and birthing hospitals - almost every area of ​​health," said Joseph Dov Bruch, PhD, assistant professor of public health sciences at UChicago, who led the study. "The stories have specified the increase in investing and investments and number of medical checks. This study is made to fill in this space.» Games  The amount of funds can come from many types of companies, companies that make adjustment plan changes. As a result, Bruch said that the team wanted to look at a wide range of factors to determine the impact on the health sector as a whole rather than limiting the research to one condition. Although the impact of the financial sector has increased in many areas, "private pricing is particularly interesting in health care because of the many gaps and cost-cutting initiatives in this area," Bruch said. As a global researcher, Bruch and his research team found 55 previous studies that examined equity in health care and conducted systematic reviews in four areas: health care quality, costs for payers and patients, costs for health workers, and health outcomes. They found that in all health care organizations surveyed, the availability of private equity has increased substantially since 2000. Across all four sectors, private equity investment is associated with an increase of 32% for payers and patients. Ownership of private equity is also associated with adverse mixed effects on health care quality, while effects on health outcomes and costs are not limited. Private equity advocates have argued that injecting money from financial institutions directly benefits patients. However, the results of this study did not support this hypothesis. The authors did not identify any beneficial effects of private equity ownership. "The fact that we don't see improvements means that we don't see clear evidence that private equity improves health care by reducing administrative burdens, streamlining processes, or delivering technological advances," Bruch said. The researchers hope that the study will make health care providers, policy makers and members of the public aware of the growing influence of the financial sector on the health care system. In addition, the team said that health care providers may need to pay more attention to the financial burden placed on patients. The researchers said they believe their findings could spark a wider discussion among policymakers about antitrust laws and the industry's practice of pharmaceutical law. Although patients may not be able to detect specific changes in the care they receive, Bruch said it is good to know that his hospital, nursing home, doctor's office or fertility treatment center may be private and that these companies have specific financial goals that can inform care decisions. "Private equity is designed to be run-of-the-mill," Bruch said. "It's really a growing financial leader, and the evidence shows that it should be of great concern to patients, but it's a symptom of a health care system that's becoming more and more expensive." (ANI)