The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Thursday held a hearing to examine the effects that the "increasingly veiled nature" of nursing home ownership and problems with inspections have had on the quality of care for elderly and disabled residents, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 5/15). According to CongressDaily, more than 50% of nursing homes are part of chains, with many of those owned by private equity firms that establish "layered entities" to operate the facilities, "making it difficult" for CMS, states and consumers to determine their owners and operators (Cox, CongressDaily, 5/16).
At the hearing, Lewis Morris, chief counsel to the Inspector General for HHS, said that CMS operates a database called "Pecos" that includes some nursing home ownership information but added that the system does not address the issue adequately. The database includes ownership information on 70% of the nursing homes that participate in Medicare, according to acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems. He said that CMS seeks to "populate Pecos 100%" and link ownership information to quality data on the Nursing Home Compare Web site but added that the agency must have "usable" ownership information (CQ HealthBeat, 5/15).
Norman DeLisle, MDRC
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