A study recently released by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) states that the nation's 10 largest for-profit nursing home chains deliver a lower quality of care because they hire less staff and fewer nurses to keep costs low.

In the first-ever study of its kind, UCSF scrutinized the largest U.S. nursing home chains based on size and profit. They operate about 2,000 facilities and own about 13 percent of the nation's nursing home beds

Officials with UCSF said the study proves that the chains' strategy is to lower labor costs in order to bring higher profits, and added that quality has been sacrificed, leading to nursing home negligence and a higher number of medical malpractice lawsuits. The study showed that the cuts were more evident in the area of RN staffing.

The nursing home chains became more profitable after private investors bought into the industry. However, with Medicare cuts in 2011, the safety and health of nursing home residents could be in further jeopardy if the chains react with staff or wage cuts. The for-profit chains are stated to have 41 percent more deficiencies than the best facilities, with problems including infections, pressure sores, mistreatment and increased resident weight loss.

The chains that were studied were Life Care Centers of America, Golden Living, HCR Manor Care, Kindred Healthcare, Sun Health Care Group, Inc., Genesis HealthCare Corp., SavaSenior Care LLC, National Health Care Corp., Extendicare Health Services, Inc., and Skilled HealthCare, LLC.

Source: University of California San Francisco, "Low staffing and poor quality of care at nation's for-profit nursing homes" Nov. 29, 2011