Promises, Promises
Posted by Patti on October 22nd, 2007 / Print This Post
Carlyle Group has put in writing that it will not cut back on resources and staffing with the Manor Care buyout.
The Carlyle Group, under siege for weeks by a labor union critical of its $6.3 billion purchase of Manor Care nursing homes, has taken the rare step of putting in writing its promise to provide adequate staffing and resources to the chain.The District-based buyout giant said it has sent to state regulators across the nation a “patients first” pledge, vowing to provide quality services to patients and proper education and training to staffers who care for them. The private-equity firm also said it will make the investments necessary to “ensure Manor Care’s facilities continue to be . . . state of the art.”
The pledge comes in the wake of concerns over whether the private-equity firm might cut staffing and reduce patient care in pursuit of financial goals.
“We are confident, because we have been doing this for 20 years, that we can provide quality products and services to people that is completely compatible with providing a return to investors,” said Karen H. Bechtel, Carlyle managing director and head of its health care team.
Health-care experts differed on the value of Carlyle’s pledge.
David A. Goldstein, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, said he considered Carlyle’s pledge “relatively meaningless.” He added, “For-profit companies should not be in the business of health care. Their allegiance is not to patients. It’s to their stockholders.”
But Joseph C. d’Oronzio, associate professor of health policy at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, called the pledge “a positive and good gesture.” He added that “Carlyle won’t be able to run a nursing home and get Medicaid and insurance funding without toeing that line and answering to state regulators.”
We’ll see. Written words mean little when the excuses start coming in. Census numbers and levels of acuity will be used- just watch. And let’s keep an eye on the profit margins too.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:46 pm
The Carlyle Co. is an investment Group that primarily invests in Military, and Telecomunications. They have ties with the Saudies and others in the Bush family. I do not think that these people have any interest in keeping their word about anything.
I am sure that it is all about the profit margin and very little to do with protecting the elderly.