Desert Radiology worked with Las Vegas’s only public hospital for 58 years. Then a private equity-backed national firm bought the practice — and ended the relationship because it didn’t make enough money.
Desert Radiology terminated its 58-year relationship with University Medical Center, Nevada’s largest publicly owned hospital, after being acquired by Radiology Partners, a national radiology practice two-thirds owned by private equity firm Whistler Capital, venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, and an Australian sovereign wealth fund, according to testimony UMC officials gave Nevada lawmakers.
UMC’s Van Houweling told lawmakers the termination came because the relationship with UMC was not profitable enough for the practice’s new ownership.
Culinary Health Fund officials testified that members reported being treated poorly and having trouble accessing needed care after private equity ownership changes affected providers treating union members. Jesus Vidueira, president of the Culinary Health Fund, told lawmakers private equity has a significant hold on Nevada’s healthcare system.
Culinary Health identified US Anesthesiology Partners as another private equity-backed company operating in Nevada, saying the pattern of new owners demanding different contracts and higher fees while reducing services extends well beyond radiology.
Representatives from Families USA, a national patient advocacy group, separately praised Nevada lawmakers for previously adopting other policies aimed at lowering hospital and health system costs, even as they raised concerns about the specific effects of private equity consolidation.
Nevada’s corporate practice of medicine laws restrict certain forms of non-physician ownership of medical practices, though officials testified that disagreements remain over exactly when and where those restrictions should apply, and what exceptions should exist.
A radiology practice that outlasted six decades of changes in Las Vegas healthcare didn’t end its relationship with the city’s public hospital over patient outcomes or quality of care. It ended because new owners, a continent away from the patients involved, decided the math didn’t work anymore.
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