How we label: methodology
One set of labels for every industry. A practice takes the label of the group it is tied to, or “no known PE ties”. We publish a label only when we can name the owner and link a source.
Labels
| Label | Who it covers | How we say it | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE-backed | A private-equity firm holds a majority or minority stake in the practice or in the company that manages it, including the PE arms of sovereign and pension funds. Partial stakes count. | “PE-backed” or “affiliated with a PE-backed group”, plus the firm’s name | Warning |
| PE-backed, now lender-controlled | A former private-equity platform now controlled by its lenders after a restructuring. | “PE-backed, now lender-controlled” | Warning: the PE ownership period already happened |
| Not PE, corporate-owned | Owned by a company that isn’t a PE fund: public companies and insurers, large family- or founder-owned companies whose owners aren’t the clinicians, family investment firms, and nonprofit insurers. | “Not PE, owned by <company>” | Caution, owner named |
| Part of a health system | Owned by a hospital or health system. | “Part of <health system>” | Neutral, for information |
| Group practice | A multi-office group owned by its dentists, doctors or vets, or a clinician-owned co-op, with no outside investor. | “Group practice, owned by its dentists/doctors” | Neutral |
| VC-backed, not PE | Funded by venture capital investors rather than a private-equity buyout fund. | “VC-backed, not PE”, investor named | Neutral |
| Not confirmed | A source may connect the practice to a group, but the evidence is thin or old, so we don't label it. We link the source so you can judge. | “Not confirmed”, with the source linked | Neutral |
| No known PE ties | Practices in our checked DFW and Bay Area lists where we found none of the above. It means we found no ties, not that we proved there are none. | “No known PE ties” | Neutral |
When we can’t confirm a group’s owner we publish no label at all.
Wording rules
- In dentistry a PE-backed company usually manages the practice through a management services organization, and a dentist is still the legal owner. So we say “PE-backed” or “affiliated with a PE-backed group”, never “owned by” a PE firm.
- We say “no known PE ties”, not “independent”, unless the practice has certified its ownership.
- We state ownership facts with sources and never say a specific practice is worse because of who owns it.
- Networks of independently owned practices, such as Vision Source members and Pearle Vision franchise stores, are not labeled by the network.
How we decide
We start from the groups: who backs each one, then where its practices are. Evidence, strongest first:
- The group’s own location lists. Locations pages, partner pages and the location data behind group websites, matched to the practice’s record at the same address.
- NPI registry records. Every dental and eye care practice that bills insurers has a National Provider Identifier. Its legal and business names often name the group, and a group’s corporate officer often signs the records of every practice it manages, whatever each practice is called. When the same official signs two or more of a group’s confirmed practices, their other practices get medium-confidence evidence.
- Texas franchise-tax mailing addresses. In Texas, a practice entity whose tax mailing address is a dental or eye care group’s headquarters is tied to that group.
- Press releases and PE firm portfolio pages. Who backs each group, and since when, comes from the PE firm’s own portfolio page, the group’s press releases, filings or trade press, with the date.
An NPI record at a group office’s street address is only labeled when the name, suite or a known legal entity of the group also matches. A different practice in the same building stays “no known PE ties”.
Confidence levels
Each practice’s confidence is its strongest evidence, capped by how well the group’s own ownership is sourced (high: PE firm portfolio page, press release or filing, and current; medium: trade press or slightly dated; low: thin or conflicting).
- High: Primary source: the group’s own location or partner list, matched to the practice’s NPI registry record at the same address by name, suite or a legal entity the group bills under.
- Medium: The practice’s NPI record names the group, is signed by the same official as two or more of the group’s confirmed practices, or the group’s own job board names it.
- Low: A name or shared official points to the group, but the address isn’t on the group’s current list (it may have closed, moved or been sold), or the tie rests on indirect signals.
- Certified (coming): the practice’s own ownership statement, for Verified Not PE listings.
Partial stakes and deal types
A minority PE stake still counts as PE-backed. Where we know it, each page shows the depth:
- Majority or minority: how much of the group its PE investors own.
- How the group holds practices: a buyout (the group buys the practice), a partnership (the dentist keeps a stake), a joint venture, or de novo (the group opens new offices itself).
What Verified Not PE means
Verified Not PE means clinician-owned: no PE money anywhere in the ownership chain (practice, management company or parent), no management contract with a PE-backed or corporate-owned company, and not lender-, corporate- or health-system-owned. Only practices that certify their ownership get it. More about the badge.
Why ownership matters
People ask who owns their health care for many reasons. Researchers have measured how fast PE ownership is growing and how it relates to prices. Findings are averages across many practices and don’t describe any single practice.
- Health Affairs (2024): the share of dentists and dental practices affiliated with private equity nearly doubled from 2015 to 2021. Read the study
- Health Services Research (2026): after PE acquisition, dental practices’ charges rose 3.3% while the prices insurers allowed were unchanged. Read the study
- JAMA Health Forum (2022): in dermatology, gastroenterology and ophthalmology practices acquired by PE, charges per claim rose about 20% and allowed amounts about 11% compared with similar practices that weren’t acquired. Read the study
- American Dental Association Health Policy Institute: in 2024, 16% of US dentists were affiliated with a dental support organization (DSO), including 25% in Texas and 11% in California. DSOs include founder- and dentist-owned groups, so this is broader than PE. ADA HPI dental practice research · state-by-state figures (Becker’s Dental Review)
Keeping it current
Ownership changes. We recheck PE firm portfolio pages, monthly deal roundups and group location lists, and we fix errors when people report them. Report a correction.