Personal Fairness Investments in Oncology: Prime 5 Issues to Know

Though personal fairness (PE) sponsors have been energetic buyers within the well being care providers business for the final decade, PE-backed well being care suppliers right this moment represent solely 4% of the USA well being market by income. Furthermore, development in PE funding in well being care has slowed over the previous six years. The year-over-year development fee within the variety of PE-backed well being care firms has slowed from practically 25% in 2018 to lower than 1% within the first quarter of 2024.[i]

Regardless of the relative lack of depth of PE funding within the well being care sector, authorities and media consideration has grown dramatically focusing on PE sponsors and highlighting considerations over the care of sufferers, the upkeep of amenities, and the remedy of workers. A number of the considerations might have benefit in some instances, whereas many are misplaced or utilized with too broad a swath. Nonetheless, personal fairness funding just isn’t going away briefly time period, and up to date tendencies present an uptick in personal fairness in oncology, a key subject mentioned on the September 2024 Most cancers Care Enterprise Alternate. Overshadowing the deal exercise are plenty of shortly evolving authorized and regulatory tendencies, that buyers and suppliers alike ought to keep in mind.

Authorities Scrutiny of PE-Backed Well being Care Suppliers Seems More likely to Proceed to Enhance

The Federal Authorities and numerous state governments have set their sights on well being care personal fairness buyers. This focus has included, amongst different issues, proposed Federal laws (mentioned in our earlier weblog) requiring “transparency” into personal fairness investments by mandating annual reporting to the Division of Well being and Human Companies, proposals to repeal conventional Federal revenue tax benefits from well being care actual property funding trusts, hearings on and demonization of personal fairness sponsors, proposals for felony penalties to be utilized to well being care executives within the occasion of deaths to sufferers and important claw backs of compensation paid to well being care personal fairness executives beneath sure circumstances.

Furthermore, the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) and United States Division of Justice (DOJ) have proven a eager curiosity in pursuing antitrust claims in opposition to suppliers whose market share has grown slowly, by means of so-called “creeping” acquisitions (i.e., transactions at sizes beneath Federal antitrust company reporting thresholds).

Lastly, sure states, together with California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Washington, and Pennsylvania, have thought-about, handed, or are within the strategy of passing, statutes that may require buyers enthusiastic about buying or recapitalizing well being care suppliers, comparable to hospitals, well being methods, expert nursing amenities, hospices, ambulatory surgical procedure facilities, and doctor practices, to report transactions of a sure dimension or character to state regulators to permit these regulators to find out whether or not or not such offers will probably be allowed to maneuver ahead. Briefly, this scrutiny seems widespread and is prone to intensify, at the very least within the brief time period.

The FTC’s Rule Prohibiting Covenants To not Compete was Just lately Enjoined. What’s Subsequent?

On August 20, 2024, the U.S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of Texas issued a ruling enjoining the FTC’s enforcement of its rule (issued earlier in 2024, and described in our earlier weblog) banning most employment covenants to not compete.[ii] The rule, had it not been quickly restrained, would have taken impact on September 4, 2024, and would have prohibited for-profit employers from implementing non-competes it at present has with most of its workers, together with physicians and clinicians who present a lot of the providers to sufferers. Whereas there are specific exceptions — for instance, for sure “senior executives” — these exceptions are narrowly tailor-made and wouldn’t have utilized to rank-and-file physicians and different scientific workers. The injunction has offered momentary aid for many employers, a lot of whom seemingly are respiratory a sigh of aid. The Texas district court docket took the place that the rule is overly broad and that the FTC exceeded its authority beneath the FTC Act in writing that rule. Of notice, the injunction doesn’t imply that the rule has been deemed to violate the Structure, and the FTC has said that it seemingly will attraction the court docket’s ruling. If it does, the battle will probably be removed from over. Within the interim, covenants to not compete stay in impact, and as long as they don’t violate relevant state legislation (with some states, notably Massachusetts and Connecticut, expressly prohibiting enforcement of non-competition agreements with physicians), ought to stay enforceable.

Antitrust Considerations on the Rise

The FTC and the DOJ have gotten more and more enthusiastic about antitrust points associated to competitors and aggressive conduct amongst well being care suppliers, together with these managed and managed by personal fairness sponsors. A number of years in the past, the FTC introduced an motion in opposition to U.S. Anesthesia Companions (USAP), a Welsh Carson and Stowe-backed firm.[iii] The FTC alleged that USAP, and Welsh Carson, had engaged in anticompetitive conduct within the Texas market. USAP is an anesthesia medical observe that grew dramatically throughout the US, and most particularly in Texas. Just lately, a Federal court docket dismissed Welsh Carson from the motion, however didn’t dismiss USAP. This ruling was on the heels of a latest Request for Data issued by the FTC and the DOJ relative to function of, amongst others, personal fairness sponsors in well being care markets. The FTC and the DOJ have proven a eager curiosity in “roll up” methods that keep away from reporting beneath the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Enhancements Act however, in the end, lead to platform companies with important market energy and the flexibility to interact in — what these regulators imagine is — anticompetitive conduct comparable to predatory pricing.

Enforcement of Stark Legislation Penalties on the Rise

As of April 2024, the DOJ has been exhibiting elevated deal with implementing the Doctor Self-Referral Legislation, also called the “Stark Legislation,” by means of the False Claims Act (FCA). This contains submitting complaints and asserting settlements associated to Stark Legislation violations. In a single excessive profile and ongoing instance, in December 2023, Steward Well being Care and Steward Medical Group had been accused of violating the Stark Legislation by paying a heart specialist nearly $4.9 million in incentive compensation.[iv]

Many personal equity-backed supplier platforms are wealthy with ancillary providers, comparable to imaging, lab, bodily remedy, orthotics and prosthetics, and — significantly in oncology — outpatient prescribed drugs. These ancillaries are, typically, the idea of excessive margin providers, however referrals to them can implicate the Stark Legislation and the FCA. Given the brand new deal with Stark Legislation violations, personal fairness sponsors and their supplier companies are properly recommended to pay cautious consideration to the varied exceptions that enable physicians to refer to those ancillaries with out violating the Stark Legislation or implicating the FCA. For instance, we imagine that the Authorities is prone to look fastidiously at valuations of compensation or different remuneration paid to physicians, the industrial reasonableness of preparations and the overview of doctor compensation, together with the association of ancillary providers bonus swimming pools.

Enhance in PE-Backed Bankruptcies

2023 and 2024 have seen a rise in bankruptcies amongst personal fairness backed suppliers, probably the most notable of which has been Steward Well being Care System, which filed for chapter in early 2024 amid allegations of facility and affected person neglect, hospital closures, layoffs, confiscatory compensation of upper-level executives and administration malfeasance. Steward owns and operates 31 hospitals and employs greater than 1500 physicians throughout the USA. Virtually all of Steward’s amenities are topic to leases with Medical Properties Belief (MPT), all of which had been bought by MPT over the previous a number of many years. The proceeds of the actual property gross sales had been distributed to Steward’s buyers and Steward was left with costly leases which resulted in a considerable drain to Steward’s funds.

Steward has turn into a lightning rod for Federal and state governments intent on defending the general public from sure varieties of for-profit well being care and can seemingly trigger the regulatory scrutiny mentioned above to proceed escalating. In 2023 alone there have been 79 well being care bankruptcies involving firms with greater than $10 million of indebtedness.[v] File excessive rates of interest (at the very least over the past a number of many years) are cited as one of many causes of those failures. Different causes are, seemingly, the cessation of CARES Act funds, fee and pricing stress from payors together with Medicare and Medicaid, nationwide and native labor shortages (coupled with growing wages) and excessive provide prices. These elements have created a “good storm” that has pushed firms with weak stability sheets to hunt chapter safety from collectors. Observe that the speed of filings is down over 2023, however nonetheless quantity nearly 60.[vi] Overly leveraged suppliers, these with weak money positions, in addition to these closely dependent upon reimbursement from Federal well being care applications will stay prone to monetary failure.

Takeaways

Regardless of the growing authorized and regulatory headwinds, it’s affordable to count on growing personal equity-backed exercise in oncology, and well being care extra usually. 

Foley is monitoring this evolving authorized and enterprise panorama and has the sources that will help you navigate these and different necessary authorized issues associated to well being care transactions, with a crew of Foley attorneys poised to help. Please attain out to the authors, your Foley relationship accomplice, or to our Well being Care Follow Group and Well being Care & Life Sciences Sector with any questions.

[i] See “Quantifying PE Funding in Healthcare Supplier” by Rebecca Springer, Ph.D., Pitchbook, July 8, 2024, accessible at: https://recordsdata.pitchbook.com/web site/recordsdata/pdf/Q3_2024_PitchBook_Analyst_Note_Quantifying_PE_Investment_in_Healthcare_Providers.pdf

[ii] FTC v. United States Anesthesia Companions, Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85714, 2024 WL 2137649.

[iii] Fed. Commerce Comm’n v. U.S. Anesthesia Companions, Inc., No. 4:23-CV-03560, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85714 (S.D. Tex. Could 13, 2024).

[iv] https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/enforcement/united-states-files-complaint-against-st-elizabeths-medical-center-steward-medical-group-and-steward-health-care-system/

[v] https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/chapter-11-bankruptcies-spiked-across-healthcare-2023-particularly-hospitals

[vi] https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/healthcare-bankruptcy-filings-slow-2024-gibbins-advisors-analysis-finds