Hospital Tracker Methodology and Data Dictionary

The document describes the process for identifying private equity-owned hospitals in the US using CMS data, Pitchbook, and news searches. It defines the criteria for private equity ownership, the metrics used to determine rurality, and the method for identifying sale-leaseback transactions involving REITs. Additionally, it provides a data dictionary detailing the specific fields captured in the Hospital Tracker, including facility IDs, ownership types, and bed counts.

• The Hospital Tracker identifies private equity-owned hospitals by combining news searches, data from Pitchbook, and the CMS "Hospital All Owners Information" database, though the authors note that some ownership may remain undisclosed because "private equity firms are generally not required to disclose acquisitions".
• The methodology for identifying private equity includes traditional buyouts and growth/expansion capital, but explicitly excludes venture capital (VC) investments from the primary count of private equity-owned facilities.
• Rurality is determined using data from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, based on the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) definition and CMS rural payment designations such as critical access hospitals (CAH) and sole community hospitals (SCH).
• Sale-leaseback transactions, where hospital real estate is owned by a third party such as a REIT, are identified through SEC filings, press releases, and news searches.

APA

Private Equity Stakeholder Project (n.d.). Hospital Tracker Methodology and Data Dictionary. https://pestakeholder.org/hospital-tracker-data-dictionary/

Chicago

Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Hospital Tracker Methodology and Data Dictionary. n.d. https://pestakeholder.org/hospital-tracker-data-dictionary/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Private Equity Stakeholder Project |title=Hospital Tracker Methodology and Data Dictionary |url=https://pestakeholder.org/hospital-tracker-data-dictionary/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{privateequitystakeholderprojectndhospital, author = {{Private Equity Stakeholder Project}}, title = {{Hospital Tracker Methodology and Data Dictionary}}, institution = {Private Equity Stakeholder Project}, url = {https://pestakeholder.org/hospital-tracker-data-dictionary/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }