Apollo Hospitals’ U.S. Aid Spurs Lawmakers to Press HHS for Data

(Bloomberg) -- Three Democratic lawmakers asked the federal government for a full accounting of relief grants and loans to private equity-backed health-care companies.

In a letter Thursday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, they requested information on which providers had been denied taxpayer aid and on the process behind allocating loans. Representatives Katie Porter of California, Bill Pascrell of New Jersey and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut also sought a breakdown of taxpayer funding by provider type as well as ownership.

The request was prompted by a Bloomberg report that three private equity-financed hospital chains, including one held by Apollo Global Management Inc., got about $2.5 billion in U.S. taxpayer aid to help get through the pandemic. The call for more transparency on government aid has been growing. The House passed a bill in July that would require health-care companies to disclose private equity backing when seeking short-term loans from the federal Medicare program.

Read more: Apollo's Hospital Chain Tapped $1.5 Billion in U.S. Taxpayer Aid

“It is egregious that HHS has prioritized money for private equity-owned hospitals with no transparency and seemingly no regard for hospitals that do not have financial support from Wall Street,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

LifePoint Health received $1.5 billion in government loans and grants, Bloomberg reported. Apollo, whose fund backing LifePoint had more than $2 billion in cash at the end of June, told clients the chain could use the Covid-19 crisis to acquire struggling hospitals.

In their letter, the lawmakers said smaller hospitals are at a disadvantage.

“As community hospitals endured these challenges with little to no external financial support other than the limited aid provided by Congress, hospitals owned by private equity firms have remained flush with cash, thanks in part to this administration,” they wrote.

LifePoint and Apollo dispute the contention that the chain didn't need government support.

Taxpayer money helped cover the rising costs of treating Covid-19 patients and lost revenue from a decline in lucrative elective procedures, they said last month. The assistance enabled LifePoint to keep all of its workers and offer an essential service to the community, they said.

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