American Hospital Association’s Statement on Tariffs While Private Equity Guts Medicine

Greg Vigna, MD

Dr. Vigna urges the AHA to fight private equity’s harm to hospitals, restore trust, and prioritize patient safety over profits and tariff concerns

SANTA BARBARA, CA, UNITED STATES, April 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “The American Hospital Association should focus on building back the trust of community hospitals, focusing on rebuilding local ownership in nursing homes, and ensuring hospitals become a safe place for the sick and injured,” states Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national malpractice attorney.

What does Rick Pollack, the American Hospital Association President and CEO say in the April 3, 2025, Member Advisory about Tariffs?:
“We strongly urge the administration to consider tariff exemptions for medical devices. It is especially critical to have exceptions for medical products already in shortage and for which production in countries subject to the increased tariffs supplies a significant part of the U.S. market.”

Dr. Greg Vigna, MD, JD, Board Certified Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, says, “Supply chains supply hospitals, and tariffs might place patients in danger. The current clear and present danger is Wall Street and private equity, as there are multiple large hospital systems crumbling after they were bought by private equity firms, who then sold the real estate asset to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) for the purpose of leaching the equity out of the hospital into the pockets of Wall Street. Then, the private equity company squeezed the hospital of profits in return for inept management to further feed their bottom line instead of reinvesting in nursing staff and services. The AHA did nothing and continues to do nothing as private equity destroys the quality of medicine and has made hospitals unsafe.”

Read “How Private Equity Has Looted Our Hospitals”: https://www.aft.org/hc/fall2024/bugbee

Dr. Vigna continues, “Rick Pollack should look at the rates of hospital acquired decubitus ulcers and the statistics of what happens to the victims of hospital acquired pressure injuries as a result of bad bedside care. It appears to be easier for those with hospital acquired deep decubitus ulcers to get a myocutaneous flap for cure in Turkey than it is in the United States hospital system, despite flaps being the standard of care for treatment.”

What does Harvard say about flaps for patients with Stage IV bedsores? Read: https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.5999/aps.2018.00262

What is the prognosis for a Stage IV pelvic decubitus ulcer with osteomyelitis? Read: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20499361231196664

Dr. Vigna adds, “Nursing homes like hospitals were bought up by private equity and are going bust after having their real estate sold to REITS for a financial windfall to Wall Street. Then, services were rationed, and food quality and nutrition services suffered as private equity companies pulled the profits from the nursing home instead of reinvesting in nursing staff or the environment of care for the benefit of its residents.”

Read Nursing Homes and Private Equity: “A Match Made in Hell”: https://medicareadvocacy.org/nursing-homes-and-private-equity-a-match-made-in-hell/

Dr. Vigna adds, “As for medical devices and medicines, Rick needs to read about the failures to ensure that information regarding the risks of medical devices are fully disclosed to doctors and patients before worrying about shortages or the cost of medical devices. Rick should be focused on the business of medicine which is best described by the passage, ‘If you provide good care, they will come’ and redirect his focus on ‘Never Events’, hospital-acquired infections, and access to care to the most vulnerable, including the homeless.”

Read “Information Disclosure, Medical Device Regulation, and Device Saferty: The Case of Cook Celect IVC Filters”: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39556835/

Greg Vigna, MD, JD, is a national malpractice attorney and an expert in wound care. He is available for legal consultation for families and patients who have suffered decubitus ulcers due to poor nursing care at hospitals, nursing homes, or assisted living facilities and other ‘never events’ including PICC line infections that result in septic shock caused by defective polyurethane catheters.

To learn more, visit the Decubitus Ulcer Help Desk.

To read Dr. Vigna’s book, click here.

Greg Vigna, MD, JD
Vigna Law Group
+1 8178099023
email us here
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