KVIG Informative

Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital and Mesa View Regional Hospital serve some of the state’s most rural communities. Neither is owned by a local operator anymore — both trace back to private equity firms most Nevadans have never heard of.

Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko is owned through LifePoint Health, a hospital chain controlled by private equity firm Apollo Global Management, according to a document prepared for the Nevada Legislature’s Interim Committee on Health and Human Services.

Mesa View Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital serving Mesquite, is owned through Quorum Health Corporation, which is controlled by private equity firm GoldenTree Asset Management, according to the same legislative document. ScionHealth, which operates Kindred Hospitals in Nevada, is separately controlled by Apollo Global Management as well.

The legislative document notes that private equity ownership has accelerated significantly across Nevada’s healthcare market, including growing consolidation of physician specialty practices, even as lawmakers acknowledge little is publicly understood about the full scope of that ownership.

Nevada lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 278 during the 81st legislative session, sponsored by Assemblywoman Duran, requiring physicians to disclose the company they work for on their license application — an initial step toward understanding physician ownership statewide.

National research cited in the legislative document found private equity ownership of healthcare providers is associated with higher costs for patients and payers, workforce cuts, and mixed to harmful effects on care quality.

The Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services launched a federal probe examining whether private equity healthcare deals generate profits at the expense of patients’ health, workers’ safety and affordable care, according to the legislative record.

Most Nevadans calling an ambulance in Elko or Mesquite have no reason to know who actually owns the hospital they’re being taken to. The state’s own Legislature is only beginning to map that ownership — and the document it’s working from admits upfront that what’s been found so far is incomplete.