McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Drew Graham on Fed Spotlight Detracting from Patient Focus

An effort to improve transparency into nursing home ownership took a major leap forward when federal officials posted previously non-public data April 20, but providers and legal experts cautioned that early findings should not be viewed in a vacuum. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ decision to post the data marked the first time the agency has compiled and publicly shared in one easy-to-access file information on mergers, acquisitions, consolidations and changes in ownership.

Drew Graham, partner and head of the Long-Term Care Practice Group at Hall Booth Smith, told McKnights his firm has had to rely on limited nursing home ownership data in the past.

“On the civil litigation side, transparency like this should provide efficient access to information that prior to this, at least in state court litigation, was available but subject to the discovery process,” he said. “I don’t expect that it will be used against providers per se, but it will likely increase the number of defendants named in civil cases as attorneys representing plaintiffs expand the litigation to include a larger number of entities or individuals.”

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