Private equity firms acquired more than 500 autism centers in past decade: study

Summary

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Private equity firms acquired more than 500 autism therapy centers across the U.S. over the past decade, with nearly 80% of acquisitions occurring over a four-year span.That’s according to a new study from researchers at Brown University’s Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research.Study author Yashaswini Singh, a health economist at Brown’s School of Public Health, said the work highlights how financial firms are rapidly moving into a sensitive area of health care with little public scrutiny or data on where this is happening or why.“The big takeaway is that there is yet another segment of health care that has emerged as potentially profitable to private equity investors, and it is very distinct from where we have traditionally known investors to go, so the potential for harm can be a lot more serious,” Singh said. “We're also dealing with children who are largely insured by Medicaid programs, so if private equity increases the intensity of care, what we're looking at are impacts to state Medicaid budgets down the road.”The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics and offer one of the first national assessments of private equity’s growing role in autism therapies and services. Autism diagnoses among U.S. children have risen sharply in recent years, nearly tripling between 2011 and 2022, and autism has been in the national spotlight amid political debate claiming links between autism and childhood vaccines.The findings suggest that investment has been concentrated in states with higher rates of autism diagnoses among children and states that have fewer limits on insurance coverage.The researchers identified a total of 574 autism therapy centers owned by private equity firms as of 2024, spanning 42 states. Most of those centers were acquired between 2018 and 2022, the result of 142 separate deals. The largest concentrations of centers were in California (97), Texas (81), Colorado (38), Illinois (36) and Florida (36). S...