Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

Big labor is raising concerns over private-equity profitability with the powers that be in Washington.

The Service Employees International Union, which represents thousands of long-term care employees, among others, is calling on Congress to hold private equity firms accountable for their ownership of nursing homes. The union sent letters to chairmen of the House Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Oversight and Government Reform, and to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.

The SEIU cited a recent New York Times investigation, which found that private equity firms that have bought nursing facilities tend to cut costs to increase profits. They also create elaborate corporate structures that insulate nursing homes from lawsuits, the report said. The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care critiqued the analysis saying it concerns less than 10% of nursing homes in the United States.

Copies of the union’s letters are at http://www.carlylefixmanorcarenow.org. Also, for more from the SEIU go to http://www.behindthebuyouts.org/media-center.