CMS Rule: Nursing Homes to Disclose Private Equity and REIT Ownership, Affiliations

Nursing homes will be required to disclose outside investors in their ownership or operations management if a new proposed rule issued on Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is finalized.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report calling for increased transparency on nursing home ownership, according to KJZZ. The study found that information on owners in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Care Compare database wasn’t organized efficiently for consumer access and understanding, but recommended providing a list of all facilities under common ownership.

In September, the HHS unveiled an ownership information component of Care Compare, a public database of skilled nursing facility information, for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The new rule expands the information required by federal regulators to include outside investors in ownership of facilities or any entities providing administrative or consulting services to those facilities, Modern Healthcare reports.

According to Inside Health Policy, the rule change was prompted in part by a report from Public Citizen that found Care Compare listed nursing home owners inaccurately. It also included a suggestion that HHS post ownership information that includes relationships between owners.

From a CMS Press Release on the rule:

Nursing homes frequently use other companies to provide major services or support, but families currently have no way of knowing which different companies or firms provide care to their loved ones and how they might be connected to the owners of a nursing home. The proposed rule would also require any additional information about entities that lease or sublease property to nursing homes, since the facilities and property owners may be set up as different corporate entities even though the entities work hand in hand.