U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy has introduced legislation to bar private equity–owned hospitals and nursing homes from receiving Medicare funding.

The bill responds to research linking private equity ownership to reduced staffing, higher costs and poorer patient outcomes.

“Private equity’s general business model is pretty simple: find hospitals that are in dire financial straits, make promises to fix things, and then squeeze every cent they can out of patients before leaving communities to deal with the wreckage,” Murphy said. “I saw this happen in Connecticut, and it was devastating for patients and for the doctors and nurses who were desperately trying to take care of people as facilities were falling apart and supplies ran short.”

The bill comes after more than 750 hospital and nursing home closures driven by President Trump’s health care cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a trend that has made distressed facilities targets for private equity takeovers.

Murphy’s legislation seeks to prevent further acquisitions that lawmakers warn are harming patients and weakening care infrastructure nationwide.