Home › Reports › Why one nursing home has a dozen owners
Why one nursing home has a dozen owners
Look up almost any nursing home in the CMS ownership file and you will find between six and twenty owners listed. That is not a data error. It is the standard corporate structure of the industry, and it is deliberate.
The usual stack
A property company owns the real estate. An operating company holds the licence and runs the building, leasing from the property company. A management company takes a fee. A therapy company and a staffing company may bill the operator. Above those sits a holding company, and above that, individuals or trusts. Each is a separate filing.
Why it is structured that way
Liability separation, real-estate financing, and tax treatment — all legitimate. The side effect is that no single filing shows who runs the business, and related-party transactions between the entities move money in ways that are difficult to see from outside.
What it means when you are trying to find the operator
Across 16,019 facilities we found 10,280 distinct owner organisations, which resolve to far fewer real operators — 412 corporate families file under more than one company name. The largest files under 40.
Common questions
Is it legal for a nursing home to have many owners?
Yes. Separating property, operations and management into different legal entities is standard practice across the industry.
How do I find the real operator?
Group the filed entities by which facilities they share. Entities that appear together across a portfolio are almost always one business.