With the Largest-Ever Buyout of a National Nursing Home Chain Pending ... New York Times Exposes Harm to Seniors After Private Equity Buyouts of Nur...( Findings Raise Serious Concerns fo...),Health

Findings Raise Serious Concerns for Mich. Seniors in Massive, Pending

Carlyle Group Takeover of HCR Manor Care

SEIU Calls on Carlyle to Ensure Buyout Doesn't Worsen Care

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A stunning front page expose by the New York Times Sunday details how cuts to staffing and operations at nursing homes bought by private equity firms across the country have enriched top executives and buyout firms but left residents worse off. The newspaper's investigation raises serious concerns for nursing home residents in Michigan as huge buyout firm the Carlyle Group finalizes this fall what will be the largest-ever takeover of a nursing home chain, the $6.3 billion buyout of HCR Manor Care. Manor Care runs 27 nursing homes in Michigan with 3,366 resident beds.

Last week, the nation's largest healthcare workers union, SEIU, launched a nationwide effort calling on Carlyle to put patient care above CEO profits in the Manor Care takeover. For more, visit http://www.CarlyleFixManorCareNow.org

The New York Times' investigation found:

-- Serious Quality of Care Deficiencies -- "Serious quality-of-care

deficiencies - like moldy food and the restraining of residents for

long periods or the administration of wrong medications - rose at every

large nursing home chain after it was acquired by a private investment

group from 2000 to 2006, even as citations declined at many other homes

and chains."

-- Staffing Cuts, Sometimes Below Legal Levels -- "At 60 percent of homes

bought by large private equity groups from 2000 to 2006, managers have

cut the number of clinical registered nurses, sometimes far below

levels required by law. During that period, staffing at many of the

nation's other homes has fallen much less or grown."

-- Byzantine Str
'/>"/>