A legislative proposal put forward by the North Carolina state Senate that would open the door for hedge funds and private equity firms to acquire, open and operate dental practices not run by licensed dentists in North Carolina has hit a hurdle in the state House of Representatives.
The House spending plan that received bipartisan support in an 86-20 vote among state representatives May 22 does not include language created by the other chamber that would allow for such a change. That’s just one of many differences the two legislative bodies have about what should be included in the state’s spending plan for the next two fiscal years.
The new North Carolina fiscal year begins July 1, and legislative leaders have told reporters that the two chambers are not close on bridging their differences.
Critics of private-equity dentistry say they hope the House wins on that point, at least.
The North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners has long put up a significant barrier to dental practices not being owned by licensed dentists, despite some lawmakers’ efforts to change that and bring the state more in line with others that support such investment vehicles.
A report released last year by the American Dental Association showed that the percentage of dentists affiliated with private equity firms jumped from 6.6 percent nationwide in 2015 to 12.8 percent six years later.
How about bringing the state more in line with states finding that “such investment vehicles” tend to be BAD for everyone except the investors?
Align with Oregon, why don’t they? “Oregon lawmakers approved a bill to block private-equity firms from controlling healthcare practices, which analysts say would be the nation’s strictest ban on corporate influence in medicine.”
“Oregon’s House … approved the measure, which would prohibit non-physician investors from controlling medical practices and strengthen the state’s nearly 80-year-old prohibition on corporate medical practices.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/oregon-bill-to-unwind-private-equity-medical-deals-heads-to-governors-desk-a9a7d252
Whoever believes what is bad in the medical sector isn’t bad in the dental sector is on someone’s payroll to believe that. We should NEVER enable expansion of PE or other Profit-Maximizing business models into the dental sector. (I’m not in favor of say ing the bottom line is that we MUST only have Dentist Owners in Dentistry. That only speaks to someone’s graduation and licensure. There are plenty of problems we can point to regarding licensed dentists who own dental practices, but the issue here is The Big Business of Dentistry and the business models that are exploitative of patients and the employed dentists, as these non-producing owners, managers, and investors influence the Practice of Dentistry with heavy emphasis on profits for themselves. They put the onus of “ethical practice” on the employees while having workplace environments that are not conducive to maintaining ethic treatment of patients…and often, there isn’t ethical treatment of the dentists, either.
WAKE UP NC Legislators! Do Not enable Big Money to further ruin the healthcare sector and enable its development in Dentistry.
“The Senate Budget Committee’s bipartisan report released Tuesday said private equity’s profit-minded management strategies are likely a bad fit for the healthcare sector, and questioned whether buyout firms should own hospitals.”
““The findings of the investigation call into question the compatibility of private equity’s profit-driven model with the essential role hospitals play in public health,” the report said.
…
The report is likely to fan controversy over private equity’s role in the healthcare sector, which faces intense criticism from federal and state lawmakers and regulators, as well as many doctors and patients.”