On September 26, 2022, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid issued a press release stating that they were making more Nursing Home Data publicly available: see here. According to the release: “This data will, for the first time, give… the public an enhanced ability to identify common owners of nursing homes across nursing home locations.”
The release suggested that this would happen immediately.
So, where’s the data? If you look at the two ownership tables that CMS has published since issuing the release, there is no change from what was shown before.
The press release specifically states:
The information posted today now includes detailed information on the ownership of approximately 15,000 nursing homes certified as a Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) – regardless of any change in ownership, including providing more information about organizational owners of nursing homes. For example, the expanded data elements include information about each organizational owner, such as whether it’s a holding company or a consulting firm. CMS has also provided key identifiers that reflect groups of nursing homes with common ownership or managerial control.
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/biden-harris-administration-makes-more-medicare-nursing-home-ownership-data-publicly-available
Before this press release, CMS provided these categories related to ownership:
- LEGAL BUSINESS ENTITY
- 5% OR GREATER DIRECT OWNERSHIP INTEREST
- 5% OR GREATER INDIRECT OWNERSHIP INTEREST
- PARTNERSHIP INTEREST
After the press release, we have exactly the same categories.
This effectively allows anyone to know who directly owns a skilled nursing facility, any significant shareholders in that company (direct owners), and any significant shareholders of those shareholders (indirect owners or effectively holding companies). But often this is not enough to track all the way back to the final owner or ultimate holding company. For example, Genesis Healthcare, Inc. says that they are “one of the nation’s largest post-acute care providers” holding “nearly 250 skilled nursing centers and senior living communities”. But, if you look in the CMS ownership table, there is no record for “Genesis Healthcare, Inc.”. There are, however, 1,017 records with owner names beginning with “Genesis” in 25 different variations including “Genesis Holdings, LLC”, “Genesis Healthcare LLC”, and multiple versions similar to “Genesis Operations III LLC” .
CMS’ internal records clearly can identify each layer of holding company that ultimately own and control hundreds and hundreds of skilled nursing facilities nationwide. And, they themselves have admitted that knowing this information is important for consumers. But, nothing has change; there is nothing new here.
Again, where’s the data?
UPDATE (February 2023)
It looks like CMS has come through with its promise of additional ownership data. While it is still not possible to construct a correct hierarchy of the ownership of some nursing homes, we do see a lot of new entities listed as indirect owners. As an example, take a look at the new owner page for Genesis Healthcare, LLC.
