Jacobin: The For-Profit Nursing Home Scam
From the article:
Private equity–owned nursing home facilities across the country are poaching government funds that should be used to increase staffing levels and pay workers more to line their owners’ pockets…
The nursing home industry has undergone a massive upheaval in recent years, one that began well before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the deaths of more than two hundred thousand residents and sixteen hundred staffers. Large, shareholder-owned chains like Kindred and HCR ManorCare left the field in 2017 and 2018, respectively. A few dozen midsize private equity firms headquartered far from Wall Street emerged to take their place.
This shake-up has exacted a huge toll on nursing home quality.
“These firms, such as Arcadia Care, Brius Health Care, Aperion Care, and Infinity Healthcare Management, perform poorly in the federal government’s nursing home rating system, averaging only 2 on a 1 to 5 scale,” according to a recent report by Good Jobs First, a watchdog group that tracks fines imposed by government agencies. “These bad actors — some of which have doubled or tripled in size in recent years by purchasing facilities sold off by more established operators — have been averaging over $100,000 in penalties per facility, nearly three times the national level.”
Read the full story at Jacobin.