In the spotlight

The quality of nursing home care was the subject of a recent article in the New York Times which reported that private investors, such as the Carlyle Group, have been purchasing nursing homes at an alarming rate for the past several years. They found that, once purchased by big business, companies cut staff and expenses to inconceivable levels – often well below minimum state requirements.

The Times also reported that bringing lawsuits against the big companies that own nursing homes can be difficult because the companies are purposely structured in a way that makes it difficult to discover the true owners.

Case in point

Manor Care nursing homes, one of the largest nursing home chains in the United States, is being purchased by the Carlyle Group for a whopping $6.3 billion. With over 500 facilities and 60,000 employees, many workers, patients and patients' families are worried that standards of care will quickly decline. Workers at Manor Care are unionized through the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They recently had a protest outside of Carlyle's home office because they are concerned about decreased wages, benefits or possible layoffs.

The SEIU is also concerned about the growing concentration of nursing homes being owned by a few, very wealthy corporations. Their concern is very real and they point to Carlyle's recent announcement that they have already sold a 7.5% stake in the company to an investment company in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The SEIU, and others, are calling on Carlyle to:

• Ensure that its nursing homes are in compliance with federal minimum resident care regulations at all times.
• Ensure that its nursing homes are staffed at levels recommended by the Federal Government.
• Disclose the impact of its Manor Care buyout to the nursing home residents, workers and taxpayers in each state.
• Structure its buyout so that Manor Care staff has a role in the reorganization and benefit from its outcome.
• Create a Quality Care Fund and a new advisory committee comprised of Manor Care staff, resident advocacy groups and other stakeholders to improve patient care in all Manor Care homes.

Whether or not anything comes of this is anyone's guess, but when the potential for huge profits is at stake, it may be accurate to say that this is a sign of things to come.