These investment groups are often far removed from the real care at the facility level, and remain focused on the financial bottom line and driven by profits without a realistic link to the quality of care at their nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Unfortunately, the motivation for large nursing home companies to keep expanding and for investment groups to direct large sums of money to the nursing home industry is not always to provide as many people as possible with quality care. Instead, these companies and investors are often driven by profits. Senior housing can be enormously profitable, and these massive companies and the investment groups behind them are sharp. They know where the money is, and they know how to maximize it for their own benefit.
The nursing home and assisted living industry has rapidly changed over the past several decades. One of the most significant trends is that big nursing home companies are expanding even further by purchasing other nursing homes, rehab facilities and assisted living facilities. Another trend is that large private equity investment companies and Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) developed a keen interest in the nursing home industry and started making large investments in long term care facilities, especially in their buildings and land due to the potential for lucrative rent payments from the facility operators. This has had the effect of making these investors the owners of some of the biggest nursing home chains, with tens of thousands of employees.