Research shows that nursing home owners can have a significant impact on the quality of care their residents receive. The influence of one owner can be far-reaching. According to data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, nearly one-fifth of individuals or businesses that reported ownership of nursing homes have a financial interest in five or more homes. Nearly 100 owners own more than 50 homes directly or indirectly.
One of those owners, Benjamin Landa, was named ambassador to Hungary by President Donald Trump in October. ProPublica reported Monday that Pinnacle Multicare Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which Landa co-owns, is suing the Trump administration following a Department of Health and Human Services audit that estimated the facility had overpaid Medicare by more than $30 million.
In a statement, Landa’s lawyers denied any wrongdoing and said the problems identified in the audit occurred at a time when nursing homes were in the midst of a crisis during the coronavirus pandemic.
To provide the public with more information about America’s nursing home owners, ProPublica has added the ability to search by owner, manager, or officer name to Nursing Home Inspections, a database that helps find problems that federal inspectors have identified in more than 14,000 facilities. This update allows users to search for all references to the owner’s name throughout the home and filter results based on location and the person’s role in the nursing home.
The database now allows users to search by owner, manager, or executive name. propublica
ProPublica already publishes data provided by CMS about “related entities,” which are groups of homes that are decided to share ownership, board members, or management control. However, these groups do not always know every household that has a relationship with an individual or business. For example, CMS lists Landa as an affiliate with 55 nursing homes across four states. But the name “Benjamin Landa” appears in CMS ownership data for 102 nursing homes in eight states.
To make connections between owners even clearer, when you search for a specific person or company name, the database will now also show other people who frequently appear alongside the searched name.
ProPublica plans to continue improving its nursing home inspections in the coming months. If you’ve written a story using ownership search, run into any issues, or have ideas for improvements, we’d love to hear from you.
