Nursing Home Workers

Manor Care hits snag

THREE WEEKS after the sale of Toledo’s Manor Care Inc. was to have closed, the deal has been stalled by state regulators nationwide, and Wall Street is getting jittery.

In a sign that investors are worried that the $6.3 billion deal might not be completed, shares of the nation’s largest nursing home operator were trading last week nearly 9 percent below the $67 price at which they will be redeemed if the sale goes through.

“It’s worrisome,” said one analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “The longer this thing takes to close, the more bad news may pop up.”

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Under Pressure, Carlyle Issues Patient Promise

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 .

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At Many Homes, More Profit and Less Nursing

The New York Times

Habana Health Care Center, a 150-bed nursing home in Tampa, Fla., was struggling when a group of large private investment firms purchased it and 48 other nursing homes in 2002.

The facility’s managers quickly cut costs. Within months, the number of clinical registered nurses at the home was half what it had been a year earlier, records collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate. Budgets for nursing supplies, resident activities and other services also fell, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration.

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

Read the full article here.