Last year, Prospect Medical, the owner of three hospitals in our state—Waterbury, Rockville General, and Manchester Memorial — declared bankruptcy. This followed reports of unsafe patient conditions due to budget cuts, including patients left behind on the operating table, ceilings falling dangerously close to patient’s bodies, and employees buying patient’s food out of their own pockets after vendors went unpaid.

Eventually entire services were axed, including the emergency department and outpatient mental health care at Rockville General. Despite the bankruptcy of several hospitals across the U.S., the CEO of Prospect Medical made out with roughly $128 million in payouts. 

As a physician, these stories deeply concern me. But as a private equity researcher, they do not surprise me. 

Prospect Medical’s bankruptcy as well as the horrific conditions created at other private equity owned healthcare facilities had far-reaching consequences across the country. A flurry of states quickly responded by passing new legislation during the 2025 legislative session. These new laws ranged from prohibiting private equity from interfering with the clinical judgement of healthcare providers, to increased government oversight of private equity acquisitions of healthcare facilities, to banning sale-leaseback agreements –-the same agreements that left the three hospitals in Connecticut bankrupt.  

But what’s happening here in Connecticut?

Since 2023, several bills related to reining in private equity in healthcare have been proposed, and subsequently killed off. Last year however, the fresh bankruptcy of these hospitals opened a new policy window and a record 13 bills related to private equity in healthcare were introduced into the 2025 Connecticut legislative session.

Momentum built throughout the session, but time ran out before either of the two most prominent bills could be passed. The Governor’s bill, HB 6873 would have increased oversight over nearly all healthcare transactions in the state, while SB 1507 would have banned any private equity investment in hospitals altogether, a critical step in stopping private equity in its tracks. But pushback from the Governor’s office on supporting SB 1507, and intense lobbying by promoters of private equity left Connecticut without any private equity-related legislation for yet another year. 

Since the 2025 session ended, private equity has continued their crusade into the healthcare space, reaching a record amount of deals—$191 billion to be exact. And each day, private equity continues to eye a new sector within healthcare to buy out, ranging from hospitals, nursing homes, hospice facilities, and beyond.

To combat this, several new bills are being proposed this session including SB 196, which focuses directly on hospitals. This bill would require hospitals to attest that no private equity group has a controlling interest in the hospital or is interfering with the clinical judgment of healthcare providers. 2026 is a short legislative session and there are less than 80 days left for SB 196 to make it through the legislative process and pass into law before the CT General Assembly adjourns on May 6. 

I urge you all to contact your state legislators and the Governor’s office to pass SB 196 this session – although we are not the first state to have hospitals be bankrupted by private equity, we can be one of the first to prevent private equity from taking them over in the first place.

Aashka Shah MD lives in Branford.