Nursing Homes’ Ownership Web Spotlights Accountability Limits

Attorney Ernie Tosh says the imprecise nursing home financial reports required by states and the federal government are like “the last inch of an octopus tentacle.”

“You see the suction cups and figure it has to be a cephalopod. But I don’t know if it’s an octopus. Is it a cuttlefish? Is it a squid? I don’t know. You can’t tell. You can’t see enough,” Tosh said. “You have to see the whole body.”

The reports’ cloudy details on profits, ownership, and payments to “related parties” make it hard to identify individuals behind nursing home ownership groups and to secure ...