Brown University’s Private Equity State Tracker maps more than 6,000 reported private equity investments in U.S. health care across all 50 states from 2015 through 2023. It lets readers explore activity by state, county, ZIP code, year and physician specialty. The tracker is free to use; Brown offers the underlying data after users complete a brief form.
What can you explore in the tracker?
The interactive tool is designed to show how private equity activity in health care varies by place and over time. Its geographic views cover states, counties and ZIP codes, while specialty views include areas such as primary care, orthopedics and oncology. Brown describes the tracker as a resource for policymakers, researchers, journalists and the public.
Brown’s launch announcement offers several examples: fewer than half of Texas oncologists are affiliated with hospitals; one-third of independent doctors in Texas are employed by private equity-backed entities; and a majority of Indiana oncologists are employed by hospitals and health systems. These examples describe different state-level patterns; they do not establish that hospital employment causes more or less private equity investment.
How to use the data responsibly
Before comparing results, keep the measure and scope consistent. The 2015–2023 period describes the tracker’s investment records, while physician affiliation estimates use 2023 data. A count of investment transactions is not interchangeable with the number or share of physicians affiliated with a private equity-backed entity, and hospital acquisition records are a separate measure.
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- Use the same geography in both comparisons: state, county or ZIP code.
- Keep the year or period consistent, and distinguish transaction dates from 2023 affiliation estimates.
- Compare the same specialty or provider setting where possible.
- Do not treat differences between states as proof of cause and effect.
How Brown assembled the tracker
For physician-practice investments, Brown combines PitchBook data, Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty (MD-PPAS), and manual review of press releases, industry reports, and current and archived websites. The short-term acute care hospital acquisition data for 2015–2023 come from publicly available data compiled by Kim and colleagues.
To estimate physician affiliation, Brown links investment records to 2023 MD-PPAS data. It also links the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Compendium of U.S. Health Systems to MD-PPAS to estimate hospital affiliation. The tracker’s formal citation is Singh Y, Reddy M, Shroff J, Whaley C, Hostert N, Fuse Brown E, Private Equity State Tracker, Brown University School of Public Health, 2026, doi:10.26300/xfj4-s836.
What the tracker leaves out
Brown cautions that the totals are estimates, not a complete census. There are no systematic reporting or disclosure requirements for private equity investments, so smaller transactions that were not reported are likely missing. Brown says the resulting estimates should be interpreted as underestimates.
- Some providers: The Medicare-based physician data do not include certain specialties, including obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and dentistry, or non-physician providers such as advanced practice providers.
- Some hospitals: The hospital acquisition data cover short-term acute care hospitals, not psychiatric, rehabilitation or long-term acute care hospitals.
- Some specialty arrangements: Estimates for anesthesiology and emergency medicine may omit staffing-firm arrangements.
- Deal structure and ownership changes: Brown cannot systematically track structures such as leveraged buyouts, joint ventures or reliance on management services organizations, and it cannot track exits. An entity still classified as private equity-affiliated may have changed ownership through an exit, sale or divestiture.
These limits mean the tracker is a useful map of documented activity, but its coverage is narrower than all private equity involvement in health care. Brown presents it as a tool to make information more available as states consider policies addressing health care ownership and consolidation. Its stated period ends in 2023, so it is not a real-time monitor.
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Where to access the tracker
Open Brown’s Private Equity State Tracker to explore the interactive views. Brown’s September 8, 2026 announcement describes the project and its intended policy context. The tool is also cited as Singh Y, Reddy M, Shroff J, Whaley C, Hostert N, Fuse Brown E. Private Equity State Tracker. Brown University School of Public Health; 2026. doi:10.26300/xfj4-s836.
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