Fall Out From NYT Article
Posted by Kim on October 4th, 2007 / Print This Post
Reactions from that NYT article about nursing home investments vs. quality care:
First:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Concerned that the trend toward private equity ownership of nursing homes is diverting taxpayer money to enriching top executives and buyout firms at the expense of quality care, the nation’s largest healthcare workers union is calling on Congress to take action to improve the quality of care and hold private equity firms accountable for their ownership of nursing homes.Citing a recent New York Times investigation, the experience of nursing home caregivers, and concern over the pending buyout by the Carlyle Group of the nation’s largest nursing home provider, HCR Manor Care, SEIU sent letters Friday to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Oversight and Government Reform, and to the
Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Then this:
To US Senators want to know if nursing home abuse and neglect are more prevalent in facilities owned by private Wall Street equity firms, and they are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to find out. Their requests come on the heels of a New York Times investigation that found that the quality of care at nursing homes dropped sharply after they were acquired by private investment concerns.Senators Hilary Clinton (D-NY) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) based their requests on the report in the New York Times that said drastic cost cutting measures imposed on nursing homes once they were purchased by private equity firms made nursing home neglect and abuse far more likely. Recently, private investment firms have looked to nursing homes as a possible route to easy money. These firms buy facilities, drastically reduce their costs, then turn around and sell them at huge profits.
Good to see some action coming from the NYT article. The NYT isn’t always accurate with it’s reporting; and they are known to have an agenda that isn’t always friendly towards the business community. In this case though, we KNOW through our own work and experiences that these nursing homes are just bad places. WE know of the staff cutbacks, the supply shortages and neglect forced upon the residents. I hope something good comes of this. Our elderly deserve so much better.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I see…good- Congress should look into this. I don’t think nursing homes are the place to try and make money. Heck no health care facility should really seek that over quality. I imagine this will take some time, this investigation. Time isn’t on hand for so many of the residents who live at these places though.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I don’t think there’s room for profit right now. Health care is such a HUGE MESS, and we have a coming boom of people who will need some form of LTC in the next 20 yrs or so. There is a lot of money to be made, but not at the costs of quality care AND the accountability of poor care.