Biden Administration Calls for Transparency in Nursing Home Ownership and Operation: Research reveals that for-profit and private equity ownership of nursing homes is connected with increased nursing home malpractice and wrongful death.

According to a USA Today article, the Biden administration has proposed a rule calling for nursing homes to reveal if they are owned and operated by private equity firms or real estate investment trusts. The rule calling for transparency of ownership, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services earlier this month, relates to the president’s intention to reform nursing homes.

The complex ownership of certain American nursing home chains can make it unclear who decision makers are and where taxpayer money goes, as well as whether or not nursing homes are profitable. Disclosure of ownership and financial information will directly inform future policies intended to decrease nursing home malpractice related to poor quality of care. But in the meantime, says U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, the information about ownership would be made public as a means of informing consumers. When and how this information will be shared has not yet been decided.

Becerra is quoted in the article as saying that quality of care in nursing homes continues to decrease while costs soar. He also noted that recent studies have shown that ownership has an impact on quality of care in nursing homes.

The White House has previously noted that residents of private equity-owned nursing facilities have a greater likelihood of experiencing serious negative outcomes related to nursing home malpractice, some which necessitate the involvement of a wrongful death attorney. The Biden administration has named the following as negative outcomes more likely for residents of private equity-owned nursing homes:

• More nursing home injuries and illnesses that require hospitalization
• Higher mortality rates
• Higher nursing home infection rates

Nursing homes could be required to give updated information regarding direct and indirect ownership by mid-year.

Fighting Elder Abuse, Nursing Home Malpractice, and Wrongful Death

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy has years of experience holding Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes responsible for nursing home abuse and neglect. Residents of Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes should feel safe and secure and should expect the facilities in which they live to respect every right to which they are guaranteed under federal law.  Having practiced for years as a wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy fearlessly confronts negligent nursing homes and steadfastly pursues the successful resolution of his clients’ cases. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

The post Biden Administration Calls for Transparency in Nursing Home Ownership and Operation appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

Cost-cutting Measures at Nursing Homes Leave Residents Suffering while Investors Profit:

Shielded by a complex corporate structure, investment companies can dodge accountability for lapses in care at private nursing homes.

There is a correlation between the poor—and sometimes dangerously poor—quality of care in privately-owned nursing homes and the cost-saving decisions made by private owners. But the many degrees of separation between the private investors who own the homes and the residents who feel the impact of their actions allow private investment companies to take profits without having to take responsibility.

Currently, about 70 percent of American nursing homes are owned by for-profit companies. Over the past several years, as the aging of baby boomers served to increase the demand for long term care, private investment companies jumped to acquire both large and small nursing home chains, moving quickly to reduce costs and boost profits, and frequently to resell facilities for significant gains. While these firms celebrate what they feel is a financial turnaround of a failing industry, the homes themselves are suffering from the very measures that make them profitable.

Studies reveal that homes acquired by large private investment companies on average fare worse than they had under their former ownership. Private nursing homes have scored worse than the national rates for preventable injuries such as bedsores, when, prior to private ownership, these homes matched national averages or even scored higher.

In particular, staffing cuts, made by nursing home managers under private investor ownership, have had a significant impact on the decline in quality of care in private homes. Staffing deficiencies—sometimes dropping to levels well beneath the minimum legal requirements—have been found by federal and state regulators to coincide not only with deficiencies in care (such as giving out the wrong medications or serving rotten food) but with incidents of resident death from injuries or accidental suffocation.

Cost-cutting measures at nursing homes cause failures in care which result in regulators levying fines and residents’ families seeking legal action. But the difficulty with privately-owned homes is reaching who is ultimately responsible. While publicly owned nursing homes must disclose who is in control of their facilities, privately-owned nursing home chains mask who’s in control behind convoluted corporate structures.  For example, a company that has purchased a chain of homes might lease all or some of them to another firm, which in turn could use several different corporations to manage these homes. Still other companies might be used to hire staff, do bookkeeping, and acquire supplies, so that responsibility across the chain of homes is difficult to discern.

Even when regulators discover and report deficiencies in these homes, this information is not easily accessible by those looking to weed out lower-quality homes when searching for a safe facility for an elderly loved one. According to a recent investigation by the New York Times, homes often manipulate data regarding staffing, inspection results, and quality of care in order to receive a high star rating from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The higher the star rating for a nursing home, the higher its profitability. But in terms of safety and quality, a home’s star rating may not mean much.

Fighting for the Rights of Your Loved One

It’s important to ensure that the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives avoids any poor care that results in nursing home neglect or abuse. Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required to meet health and safety standards requirements and to ensure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. Should you have concerns about the quality of care in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

The post Investors Profit, Residents Suffer, from Cost-cutting Measures at Nursing Homes appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.