Opinion: Prevent a private equity takeover of doctor’s offices

Private equity’s growing influence is reshaping everyday life for New Yorkers – starting with soaring rents driven by corporate-owned housing, a fact that Gov. Kathy Hochul acknowledged in her state of the state this year. These firms are expanding their reach into another essential service: our doctor’s offices. Fortunately, New York has a powerful tool to help protect our independent healthcare system: The Medicaid Managed Care Quality Incentive Program.  

Across the country, private equity firms have been rapidly acquiring independent medical practices. Over the past decade, their ownership of physician groups has surged, particularly in specialties like primary care, dermatology, and orthopedics. What happens next is predictable: costs rise, patient care suffers, and doctors face relentless pressure to prioritize profits over people. If we don’t act now, independent medical providers – especially those serving Medicaid patients – will continue to disappear, leaving private equity-owned practices as the only option. Medicaid QIP can help to prevent this outcome. 

The Medicaid QIP is a state-funded program that provides vital funding to ensure independent providers can stay afloat and continue delivering proactive, high-quality care. But for years, it has been underfunded, and that is a risk again this year. It’s critical that Gov. Hochul and my colleagues in the Legislature fully fund and codify QIP in this year’s state budget to prevent private equity from taking more of our healthcare system. 

As a representative for the Lower East Side and Chinatown, I have seen firsthand how crucial independent medical providers – like the doctors with the Coalition of Asian-American IPA – are for our communities. Many of my constituents rely on Medicaid, and local, community-based providers that offer culturally competent, high-quality health care. 

Here’s why it’s so important. 

When private equity takes over an independent medical practice, patient care takes a backseat to profits. According to a study from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, when private equity firms take control of providers, costs go up for patients by as much as 32% while the quality of healthcare suffers. While we all may feel the increased costs, we know the impact is felt most acutely by immigrant families, seniors, and low-income New Yorkers who already face barriers to healthcare access. Private equity firms prioritize short-term profits, leading to rushed appointments, fewer preventive care measures, and worse health outcomes – especially for Medicaid recipients. 

The Medicaid QIP has helped sustain independent providers by incentivizing preventive care and rewarding insurers and health plans for the high-quality care they provide. However, repeated budget cuts have weakened the program, making it harder for independent physicians to compete with private equity-backed groups. The latest executive budget proposes a partial restoration, but without full funding, independent providers will continue to struggle. Fully funding and codifying QIP into state law will ensure that our local independent, community providers can continue delivering accessible, high-quality care. 

The growing privatization of healthcare should alarm all of us. We have already seen the devastating consequences of private equity’s expansion into housing and elder care. If we don’t act now, our primary care system will be next, leaving patients with fewer choices, higher costs, and declining quality of care. 

New York has long been a place with high-quality independent physicians that reflect the diversity of our state. Fully restoring and codifying QIP is a necessary step to protect our community doctors, ensure affordable care for Medicaid recipients and low-income populations, and prevent private equity from further dismantling our healthcare system. The final state budget must reflect this priority – because the health of our communities depend on it.