Recommended articles about the financial health of our specialty 

2023 was a concerning year, with at least two high-profile radiology providers filing for bankruptcy.

Here are our staff’s picks for current news about private equity in healthcare, radiology bankruptcies, healthcare legislation, and other important developments affecting the economics of radiology.

We’ll keep adding articles of interest. Check back for new updates regularly.

Private Equity and Radiology

Staff’s pick: This article has an explanation of preferred equity. Radiologist blogger Ben White, MD asks a good question, “What does that [Radiology Partners] preferred equity mean for current equity owners, particularly those radiologists holding common stock?”

Private equity-backed bankruptcies hit record high, with radiology firm topping healthcare list (Radiology Business)

“S&P experts said the uptick in bankruptcies is being fueled by inflation, high interest rates and the fading impact of pandemic stimulus spending.”

16% of all U.S. bankruptcy filings in 2023 were from Private equity- and VC-backed companies. Making this the largest share going back to at least 2010. Radiology Bankruptcies topped the list for healthcare.

Private Equity Investments in Health Care May Increase Costs and Degrade Quality (Columbia.edu)

Bought and Sold – Again: Teleradiology group vRad finds yet another new owner in MEDNAX sale to Radiology Partners. (Diagnostic Imaging)
The headline might be old but the article sticks. This radiologist blogger wonders, “might it ultimately be the case that bigger is not always better in our biz, and even the most massive leviathan of them all goes belly up, its remains, ironically, to be picked over by a gazillion little baitfish-sized radiology groups?”

Private equity’s ‘voracious’ acquisition of radiology practices is increasing imaging prices, study asserts (Radiology Business)

Moody’s downgrades Radiology Partners, citing ‘very high leverage’ (Radiology Business)

Radiology Bankruptcies

S&P plans to reclassify Radiology Partners’ debt as ‘distressed’ (Radiology Business)
New York-based S&P “downgraded the rating on these notes to “CC,” indicating the obligations are “highly vulnerable” to nonpayment, with default “expected to be a virtual certainty.””

Radiology provider Akumin files for bankruptcy, seeking to cancel $470M in debt (Radiology Business)
KKR-backed Envision Healthcare files for bankruptcy (Reuters)
Two private equity-backed providers of radiology services, Envision and Akumin, were very high profile radiology bankruptcies in 2023,

Legislation/Government

Congressional Investigation, White House Crackdown Means New Oversight of Private Equity Owners in Health Facilities (National Law Review)

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence news is so abundant, we gave the topic its own blog post: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Radiology: What We’re Reading