Stripping Value: How Non-Profit Hospitals Turn Public Assets into Private Ventures

Everywhere you look, there are headlines about non-profit hospitals starting and joining startup ventures .  Usually, there is some nod to “advancing patient care” or “improving outcomes” in the mission statement of these venture funds, but if you look beyond the first line or two you see that the primary purpose of these vehicles is revenue generation, revenue diversification, and commercialization of products and services.  For example, UPMC Enterprises is the innovation, commercialization, and venture capital arm of UPMC, and uses “the clinical acumen of thousands of UPMC physicians” as well as access to “UPMC Health Plan[‘s] … 4.5 million members” and the data they generate to create and spinoff products for profit.  Another example is Ascension Ventures, a “strategic healthcare venture fund and innovation catalyst with more than $1 billion in capital under management.”   

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