Private Equity Owns 561 U.S. Hospitals, 11.9% of Private Hospitals, per PESP Fall 2026 Tracker
Private equity owned 561 U.S. hospitals, or 11.9% of private hospitals, in the Private Equity Stakeholder Project’s fall 2026 tracker update, up from 447 hospitals and 9.5% in July 2026. PESP, an advocacy group that scrutinizes private equity in healthcare, reports that 33.6% of proprietary for-profit hospitals are now PE-owned, up from 26.8%. It says at least 144 PE-owned hospitals have REIT-owned real estate and 23% operate through joint ventures with nonprofit health systems. The jump follows a $3.9 billion Select Medical acquisition by a consortium including Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, which PESP counts as owning 124 hospitals through Select Medical and Emerus Hospital Partners. PESP does not describe its counting method.
Ownership shifts change who competes for referrals, staff and local market share. Operators in markets with PE-backed hospital platforms or nonprofit joint ventures should know who now sits across the table.
Use it for: Mapping which hospitals and post-acute platforms in your referral area are PE-owned or in nonprofit joint ventures before you plan referral, partnership or exit conversations.
Watch out for: The counts come from an advocacy group’s own tracker, with no stated method, denominator or as-of date, and one $3.9 billion deal drove much of the jump since July. Treat it as direction, not a market census.
Try this: List every PE-owned or joint-venture hospital within your referral radius, note its likely hold period, and add it to your buyer and competitor map before your next valuation review.
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