In March 2024, two lengthy investigative pieces exposed the complex and often hidden ownership practices that increasingly dominate nursing facilities, evade meaningful public scrutiny and enforcement, and result in grossly poor care for residents.
“For-profit nursing homes are cutting corners on safety and draining resources with financial shenanigans – especially at midsize chains that dodge public scrutiny” (Mar. 14, 2024), by Sean Campbell and Charlene Harrington, describes “an industry that places a premium on cost cutting and big profits, with low staffing and poor quality, often to the detriment of patient well-being.” Regulations are “weak and poorly enforced . . . with financially insignificant penalties.” “Federal regulators have neglected the problem as each year likely billions of dollars are funneled out of nursing homes through related parties and into owners’ pockets.”
The lengthy investigative article describes the history of nursing home ownership since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in 1965 and the new phenomenon of midsize chains (11-100 facilities each) taking over facilities as larger national publicly-traded chains divest. The article discusses The Ensign Group, Brius Healthcare, Skyline Health Care, Portopiccolo, Comprehensive Health Management, Pruitt Health, and Life Care Centers of America.
“For-profit groups have vacuumed up over 70% of America’s nursing homes, and health advocates are worried: ‘The care gets really bad’” (Mar. 12, 2024), by Harris Meyer and KFF Health News, similarly describes the consequences of for-profit companies, including private equity groups and real estate investment trusts, buying not-for-profit nursing facilities. The result of the for-profit takeovers is a diversion of reimbursement to networks of related companies and “skimpier staffing, lower quality ratings, and more regulatory violations.”
March 21, 2024 – T. Edelman