Sickening story: Private investors purchasing nursing homes, making millions, patients are suffering

[dajoki]

More Profit and Less Nursing at Many Homes
By CHARLES DUHIGG
Published: September 23, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/business/23nursing.html?th&emc=th

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The investors and operators were soon earning millions of dollars a year from their 49 (nursing) homes.

Residents fared less well. Over three years, 15 at Habana died from what their families contend was negligent care in lawsuits filed in state court. Regulators repeatedly warned the home that staff levels were below mandatory minimums. When regulators visited, they found malfunctioning fire doors, unhygienic kitchens and a resident using a leg brace that was broken.

“They’ve created a hellhole,” said Vivian Hewitt, who sued Habana in 2004 when her mother died after a large bedsore became infected by feces.

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The typical nursing home acquired by a large investment company before 2006 scored worse than national rates in 12 of 14 indicators that regulators use to track ailments of long-term residents. Those ailments include bedsores and easily preventable infections, as well as the need to be restrained. Before they were acquired by private investors, many of those homes scored at or above national averages in similar measurements.

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The Byzantine structures established at homes owned by private investment firms also make it harder for regulators to know if one company is responsible for multiple centers. And the structures help managers bypass rules that require them to report when they, in effect, pay themselves from programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

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When Mrs. Hewitt sued Habana over her mother’s death, for example, she found that its owners and managers had spread control of Habana among 15 companies and five layers of firms.

Previous Articles in the Series:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/series/golden_opportunites/index.html