The pandemic has not had a “devastating” financial impact on publicly traded nursing home companies, according to a review of audited financial data submitted to the federal government.
The researchers called for more financial information transparency from both public and nonpublic nursing home corporations in order to determine where additional government funding is needed to support the industry.
The analysis, which investigated claims of severe, pandemic-related financial problems reported by the nursing home industry, was published Monday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The study found nursing home corporate revenues didn’t collapse in 2020 when compared to 2018 and 2019.
Researchers — who reviewed data from Brookdale, Diversicare, Ensign Group, Sabra Healthcare REIT and Omega Health Care — found that just four of the 11 nursing home companies it analyzed reported lower revenues in 2020 than in 2019.
“In terms of net income, all but two companies reported higher net incomes in 2020 compared to 2019,” authors David Kingsley, Ph.D., and Charlene Harrington, Ph.D., RN, wrote. “In addition, the cash-related metrics reported by publicly listed companies including the REITs, except for three companies, improved in 2020 in relation to 2019.”
The researchers wrote — in direct refutation of industry claims — the data on publicly traded companies do not show “insolvencies, bankruptcies, and severe losses of overall industry revenues.”
“Nursing home revenues in 2020 continued at about the same levels except in four companies, and the federal and state direct grants, loans and deferral of taxes may very well have offset most of the losses. Net income and cash-related metrics were generally favorable,” they concluded.
