After private equity takes over hospitals, they are less able to care for patients, top medical researchers say

After private-equity firms acquire hospitals, the facilities’ assets and resources diminish significantly, leaving the facilities less equipped to care for patients, according to a new study by physician researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York’s Hunter College. Above: Steward Health Care announced this month that it was closing Nashoba Valley Medical Center, in Ayer, Mass., west of Boston.