Residents Lose When Corporate America Buys Nursing Homes

Dan Frith

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There is a disturbing trend sweeping the American landscape for nursing homes. The era of small facilities run by a single family and operating out love and concern for the frail and elderly is long gone. Today, your mother's nursing home is probably part of a 20 or 30 facility chain. The corporate owners live in another state and there primary concern is making money...not taking care of your mother...and the trend is getting worse! Taken together, Manor Care, Beverly Enterprises, Kindred Healthcare, and Genesis Healthcare own over 1,000 nursing homes providing more than 130,000 beds.

An increasing number of large, privately held, corporations and investment companies are buying nursing homes. Their first acts are to reduce staff, cut crucial budgets, and make other cost-cutting decisions which negatively affect patient care. Why? To increase the profits!

These investment companies either own, or have offered to purchase, 6 out of the 10 largest nursing home chains in the country. This is a bad sign for America's elderly!