How private equity closed a Philadelphia hospital for its land

Hahnemann University Hospital - it was the teaching hospital of Drexel University, a top medical school with a history of over 130 years as one of the country’s greatest healthcare institutions. But in the 1990s, a foundation acquired Hahnemman, and aggressively chased growth and acquisition of other hospitals. This led to financial struggles, so in 2018, a private equity firm called Paladin Healthcare Capital bought it.

Wait - why would a private equity firm buy a struggling hospital? BECAUSE THEY WANTED THE LAND. Hahnemman was built on 6 acres right in the middle of downtown Philadelphia. This deal was crooked from the start - Paladin partnered with a real estate private equity firm to acquire it, took the land from it, and then leased it back to the hospital. Just one year later, in 2019, Hahnemann closed.

If you watched my video on how private equity killed Toys R Us, you know how this works. The private equity firm buys the land or the buildings, and then leases it back to the company at jacked up rates. Because their goal is not to build, it is to own.

And there’s tons of reasons, which private equity is deeply responsible for, that hospitals are struggling. Staffing, pharmaceuticals, supplies - everything has become more expensive. But simultaneously they are buying the land and the buildings, running this same bullshit playbook. 447 hospitals are owned - that’s 10% of all hospitals, 27% of for-profit.

And it’s going to affect rural hospitals and their communities the most. This is not about left vs right, rural vs urban, it’s about ALL OF US - and the human fucking lives we stand to lose because a bunch of assholes want to own EVERYTHING.

And that’s how Private Equity Ruined Hospitals.