For-profit groups own about 72% of nursing homes in the U.S., KFF reported March 13.
Here are five stats to know:
- Since 2015, 900 nonprofit nursing homes and senior living communities have been sold, more than half of which went to for-profit operators.
- As of 2022, the latest data, 1.3 million residents lived in a nursing home owned by a for-profit group.
- Most for-profit companies are owned by private equity, real estate investment trusts or complicated ownership structures.
- Overall for-profit ownership percentage hasn't notably increased in recent years.
- To boost profiles, many for-profit operators set up networks of related companies to provide fee-based services to nursing homes they own, including management, physical therapy, staffing and renting real estate.
However, Zach Shamberg, CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, said that the overall perception of for-profit corporations is unfair because all nursing homes are struggling with inadequate funds and high labor costs.
"If there aren't for-profit entities to buy these facilities, these facilities are closing, which would exacerbate the existing access to care crisis as the population gets older," he told KFF.