For years, Collins & Collins, P.C. stepped away from traditional medical malpractice litigation. We focused instead on the worst healthcare conditions imaginable — those inside New Mexico’s prisons, where neglect isn’t just common, it’s expected. But a troubling truth has brought us back into the broader field of medical negligence:
The same companies that run healthcare in our prisons are now running it everywhere else. And they’re run by private equity.
This isn’t a shift in branding — it’s a shift in ownership, in values, and in outcomes. Behind the scenes of hospitals, provider networks, and even respected academic institutions, private equity firms have quietly taken control. They now own many of the medical staffing companies, emergency room operators, and locum tenens providers staffing our nation’s hospitals — including those serving vulnerable patients in jails and prisons.
What Is Private Equity, and Why Is It Dangerous in Healthcare?
Private equity firms are investment groups whose primary goal is simple: generate fast, high returns for their investors. They buy up hospitals, doctor groups, or medical contractors, cut costs aggressively, and aim to resell the business within a few years at a profit.
In other industries, this model might be efficient. In healthcare, it’s deadly.
When these firms cut costs, they’re cutting staff, reducing supplies, outsourcing critical roles, and stripping away safeguards. They often replace full-time clinicians with rotating locum tenens or temporary providers. This churn breaks continuity of care and places tremendous pressure on frontline staff, who are asked to do more with less — sometimes dangerously less.
Private Equity in Prisons — and Now, Everywhere Else
Collins & Collins, P.C. knows this system intimately. We’ve seen it up close in New Mexico’s prisons, where private equity-backed medical contractors like Wexford and Centurion prioritize cost savings over care. The outcomes are horrific: untreated infections, botched diagnoses, unnecessary deaths.
We had assumed this level of neglect was unique to prisons — a result of isolation, stigma, and secrecy. But the truth is more disturbing: these same profit-first models now dominate mainstream healthcare. Even university hospitals — trusted institutions in their communities — increasingly rely on private equity-owned staffing firms to cover critical care units, emergency rooms, and night shifts.
Take Sound Physicians, for example. Though many patients have never heard the name, Sound is a major provider of locum tenens and hospitalist services — and it’s owned by private equity. This means that even at facilities not directly owned by private equity, the people making critical medical decisions may still be operating under private equity’s financial mandates.
Our Focus: Systems, Not Individuals
We want to be clear: Collins & Collins, P.C. does not sue individual doctors, nurses, or other healthcare professionals who are doing their best under impossible conditions. Many of them are trying to provide quality care with limited resources, dangerous staffing levels, and little institutional support.
Our focus is on the systems — the corporations, investors, and executives who made the deliberate decision to cut corners, maximize profits, and gamble with human lives. When patient safety is sacrificed for investor returns, that’s not just business — that’s negligence.
Why We’re Taking These Cases Again
We returned to medical negligence litigation not because the work is easy, but because the need is urgent. As private equity expands its reach, the harm grows. The same broken models that have devastated healthcare inside prisons are now driving care decisions across the country.
This is systemic. This is predictable. And it’s preventable — but only if someone steps up to hold these companies accountable.
If You or a Loved One Was Harmed, You Are Not Alone
If you experienced a serious medical error, a preventable death, or neglectful care at a hospital or clinic where private equity had a hand — whether directly or through staffing agencies — we want to hear from you. These companies count on the public not understanding how they operate. But we do.
We investigate who really owns the care teams involved, where cost-cutting decisions were made, and how the system was set up to fail patients. We follow the money, the staffing logs, the contracts, and the policy decisions — all the way to the boardroom.
We Don’t Let Corporations Hide Behind Complexity
If your injury or loss was caused by a system that put profit over safety, Collins & Collins, P.C. is here to help you expose the truth and fight for accountability.
Call us or message us for a free, confidential consultation. We’re here to help you hold the system accountable — and maybe, help stop the next tragedy before it happens.